Thing #7: Searching for RSS

I can't remember the last time I actually searched for an RSS feed. Granted, I'm not the typical participant in this project but I look at it as a "you'll be out here some day too" scenario. Once you're hooked on RSS, you'll notice it virtually everywhere. It's hiding in search engines like Google News and PubMed. It's attached to practically every blog and online newspaper in existence these days. And, if there isn't a feed for the site you want to follow, you can use a service like Page2RSS to make a feed for you. Just keep your eyes open and the RSS will start to fall into your lap.
Image via OpenSource Vector Art

Thing #6: RSS

My thoughts on RSS. Well, I have written a book teaching others how do use it so I guess you could say I'm a fan. Seriously though, I'd say RSS has completely changed the way I receive information. Every time I get handed some monthly newsletter, wether print or electronic, I've pretty much already heard about everything the newsletter has printed. (Ok, not the ultra specific stuff but if it talks about larger issues or new tech, chances are I've already read about it.) Those that say there's not enough time to read all that they could subscribe to, I have the following suggestion: For every few RSS feeds you subscribe to, drop something that isn't RSS. Or, if you can, find the RSS version of something you read in print or via a specific Web site. (Your newspaper for example.) Quickly you'll see that you're spending the same amount of time yet receiving more information in that same amount of time.

OpenCongress.org

I've got to admit that I don't track my representative and senators as much as I should. This is about to change. I just found OpenCongress.org and so far I'm impressed. Create an account and it will find your rep and senators for you. From there you can add more, track legislation, get related news stories, leave comments and even vote yea/nay on individual bills. Oh, and you can subscribe to all of it via RSS! So, now whenever Rep Fortenberry, or Senators Hagel or Nelson do something, I'll know about it.

You can also create blog widgets to track legislation. Here's one on the recent FISA bill.

Feel free to add me as a friend. My username is msauers.

Google AJAX Feed API - Dynamic Feed Control Wizard

I'm a fan of Feed2JS and FeedDigest so I was skeptical that this one would be any different. Also, there are other tools that will make RSS-based tickers but those are mostly ad supported. This one is different in two ways.

First, it's not directly ad supported. The resulting widget does display a Google logo but many libraries aren't against that as opposed to more traditional ads for companies and/or services. (In this case, the Google logo is less an ad, more a credit for the service being used.)

Secondly, you don't need to know the URL of the feed you're sourcing. As shown in the screenshot below, I was able to pull in content from my blog, Tame the Web, and the NLC's blog just by typing in their names. Google automatically did a search and found the feed URLs for me. How slick is that?

And here's the result:

Loading...

I'll definitely be covering this tool in my RSS presentation at Internet Librarian this year.

Google AJAX Feed API - Dynamic Feed Control Wizard via RSS4LIB

How to create a Twitter conference feed

I'm not sure I want to make a habit of this but I've received another request to blog on a particular topic. I've been meaning to write this post for a while so I'll just look at this as the push that I needed to actually do it. ;-)

So, for three conferences now I've created a Twitter RSS feed for those who are not at the conference to read the posts of those that are. The method or system isn't perfect but I think I've got the major bugs worked out. So here's how you do it.

1. Create an account using the name of the conference and/or some abbreviation thereof. For example, the last one was "CIL2008". Be sure to use an e-mail address that you've not previously used to create a Twitter account. (Twitter only allows one account per e-mail address.) If you plan on doing this for another event in the future, I suggest using a throwaway e-mail service so you don't run out of e-mail accounts you actually use.
   
2. Write a tweet or two while logged in as that account telling people that there won't actually be any content here as no one will actually be tweeting under that username.
   
3. Write a tweet telling people that if they're attending the conference who to contact to be added as a friend. Early attempts had me telling people to direct message me or the conference account with the request but this proved unreliable for people with protected Twitter accounts. I suggest telling people to e-mail you directly with their request.
   
4. As people contact you, log into the conference account and follow that person. Follow anyone who says they'll be at the conference and will be Tweeting from the conference. (Following people who are not attending will just clutter the resulting feed with non-relevant information.)
   
5. People only need to follow the conference account if their tweets are protected. Otherwise, following the conference account is technically pointless since there won't be any actual tweets from that account. (You'll be busy tweeting from your personal account.)
   
6. Instruct those not attending to follow the RSS feed found at the bottom of the conference account's "With Others" page.

That's it. I hope I've explained it well enough for others to recreate what I've done for other events. Feel free to post requests for clarification in the comments below.

Thing #8: RSS, part 1

This week's Things deal with RSS and Thing #8 has us signing up with Bloglines and subscribing to some feeds. Well, no problem for me there as I've already got an account which contains about 500 feeds. So, yep, I'm stuck for something to specifically blog about. Well, the thing's built in questions have come to the rescue!

What do you like about RSS and newsreaders?

Simple, the fact that they make keeping up simple. If I had to actually bookmark all of these resources and check daily for what's new, at best I'd go insane. With RSS, all I need to do is subscribe and all the information comes to me as soon as it can

How do you think you might be able to use this technology in your work or personal life?

My problem is that I use this all the time in both my work AND personal life so much so that sometimes it's hard to differentiate between the two. If I read a feed about cool technology, is that for work or is that personal? The answer is "yes".

How can libraries use RSS or take advantage of this new technology?

Libraries can use RSS in two ways. First librarians can use it to keep up with news and the opinions of other librarians. The libraries themselves can use it as a great way to distribute information to their users.

Integrating RSS Into Your Web Site

And here's the final bit, the slides for my RSS preconference @ Internet Librarian 2007.

| View | Upload your own

LIS Feed Bankruptcy

1931 unread LIS feed items is just too much. So, I've marked all of them read with a single click. If I missed something important let me know. I'll start reading again on Monday.

Amazon.com offers feeds of tags

RSS web feeds for tagged products (syndication)

CIL2007: Trends in Mobile Tools & Applications for Libraries

Megan Fox, Simmons College, (fox@simmons.edu) web.simmons.edu/~fox/mobile

• Patrons want and demand mobile on-demand services
• Mobile Market
• [I lost the stats I typed in...]
  
  
• Latest Devices
• iPods
• tablets
• PSP
• Blackberry
• m300 smart watch
  
  
• Treo
• Samsung B470
• Nokia N93
• HTC S710
• iPhone
• MyOrigo
• HTC Advantage and Shift
• Ultra Mobile PC - Q1 Ultra
• Mobile Web / Transcoded Web
• .mobi
• mobilelearn
• winksite
• volantis
• roundpoint
• mobiSiteGalore
• Freemont PL has a .mobi version
• zinadoo
• NYT
• National Weather Services
• Digg
• PubMed
• Hoovers
• Ball State University (Looks like Gopher)
• Mobile Optimized OPACs
• III AirPac
• LibraryThing
• Ready Reference On the Go
• Tucors
• handango
• dictionaries
• almanac
• Mobile Answers
• eBooks & eAudio
• Transcoding
• Optimizing for the mobile environment on the fly
• May remove content so somewhat controversial
• Blogger on the Go
• mobilicio.us
• Databases on the Run
• Factiva
• LexisNexis
• Mobilize your content
• via RSS then to SMS
• MobiFeeds
• xFruits
• feedbeep
• hubdog
• GoogleReader
• Text onto the iPod
  
  
• Mobile Search
• Google
• 4info
• Yahoo!
• AOLMobile
• Ask
• [Presented on this earlier in the conference]
  
  
• SMS for content
• GoogleSMS
• Yahoo
• AskMeNow
• Biblioteche di Roma (answer w/in 48 hours, ugh!)
  
  
• 411
• Meriam Webster
• Life's a Pitch - 1st chap via SMS
• Harper Teen
• Citysearch
  
  
• SMS for communication
• Simmons College Reference Services
• Altrama (SMS Virtual Reference)
• teleflip
• gizmoSMS
• MagicMessage
• MobileU
• AIRBaruch
• Class in Hand
  
  
• Text Feedback Link
• Feedback Meter Link
• Mobile audio & multimedia
• downloadable audio
• mobile tours - guide by cell
  
  
• instruction
• story hours
• video tours
• mobile tv
• mobile YouTube
• mobile Second Life
• Ball State University training videos & promotional videos
• Video downlaods
  
  
• Applications for staff
• Stats - bar code readers
• Sirsi PocketCirc
• Wireless Workstation
  
  
• What's Next?
• txt & video ads (you must approve & get a discount on your bill for viewing)
• MasterCard & Visa via your phone
• Hardware displays
• glasses
• eink/epaper
• project to wall
• ZenZui
• Microsoft Live Labs Deepfish
• Photo2Search
• Thrrum
• mobile visual interactions - qipit
• spoken interactions - GotVoice
• GPS Location Interaction
• [showing pics from my Library Signage flickr pool!]
  
  

CIL2007: Learning with Blogs and Wikis

Meredith Farkas & Michelle Boule (http://michellemeredith.pbwiki.com/Learning%20with%20Blogs%20and%20Wikis)

• What is a blog
• frequently updated page with posts presented in reverse-chronological order
  
  
• What's cool about them
• don't need to know HTML
• easy to update
• don't need server space
• outputs RSS
  
  
• How are blogs used in education?
• Course management system
• faculty communication w/ students
• class news
• course reflection
• reflective learning
• space for dialog & feedback
• language/writing practice
• alternative to discussion forum
• [examples shown available on presentation URL above]
• What is a wiki
• a web site anyone in a group can create and edit w/o HTML
• What's cool about it?
• don't need HTML
• quick updating
• everyone can add their 2 cents
• view page history and track changes
• How can wikis be used in education?
• course management system
• stimulate class discussion
• group projects
• student space to build identity and portfolio of work
• Blogs / Wikis cage match
• b: more structured w: less structured
• b: ownership w: egalitarian
  
  
• b: best for chronological order w: knowledgebases, documents, directories
• b: lends itself to reflective writing w: great for working in groups
• b: more pressure to post w: have to trust your students
• Five Weeks to a Social Library
• "The first free, grassroots, completely online course devoted to teaching librarians about social software and how to use it in their libraries."
• Model
• 40 participants
• small group weekly chats
• sync & async presentations
• weekly activities
• participants blog & coment
• final project: implement one tool in your library
• Why?
• continuing education needed
• conference attendance dificult
• One-day workshop not enough
• many online classes require expensive tools
• Drupal
• allowed each student to have a blog
• each post listed on central page
• add-ons like chat rooms
• Drupal creators have control over the site
• many RSS options
• Blogging to reflect on learning
• blogging to get feedback
• blogging to create a record
• Media Wiki
• runs wikipedia
• common in libraries
• lots of documentation
• wikis for directories
• wikis for quick collaborative pages
• wikis for building a personal space
• Steal this idea
• don't have to teach in 5 weeks
• don't have to use the same tools
• don't have to cover the same topics
• do need to provide for reflection of experiment
• do need to allow for many conversations
• do need to use tools that are easy
• do need to be flexible
• do need to hve an open process
• do need multiple modes of learning (audio, video, etc)
• What participants said...
• Tips for blogs in education
• provide documentation and/or training
• keep comments open
• blog to start dialogues
• don't try to control discussions
• allow for unpopular views
• be willing to change based on feedback
• remember that some people are uncomfortable w/ public writing
• Tips for wikis in education
• training often required
• create a sandbox for experimentation
• wikis can get messy
• don't control too much

CIL2007: What is a Mashup and Why do you Want one?

Darlene Fichter, University of Saskatchewan

• Definitions
  
  
• web application that uses content from multiple sources to create a new source
• uses APIs or RSS
• term comes from pop music
• cool new breed of application on the web
• Not everyone likes the term
• IBM very interested in the concept for inside the enterprise
• today's playground
• Example
• Frappr: People + Google Maps
• Mashup ecosystem
• open data
• open set of services
• small pieces loosely joined
• Implications
• fastest growing ecosystem
• don't need anyone's approval to provide a new API to the Internet operating systems
• DIY Programming
• 5 minute customization of applications
• no longer need a techno-elite to do it
  
  
• It's Legos!
• Examples
• Zip-code lookup using google maps
• library route map for deliveries
• day's popular photos, links and news
• newsmap
• reveals underlying patterns in the news
• Earthquake
• USGS & Google Maps
• Book Carousel
• ChicagoCrime.org
• Captioner
• Color Pickr
• Housing Maps
• PlaceOpedia
• NetVibes / SuprGlu
• Group maps for Online Communities
• Live Plasma
• Weather Bomb
• McMaster Library - 5000 aerial photos & google maps
• Pittsburg University Library
• Yahoo! Pipes
• Scopus and Web of Sciences
• publications by their faculty
• output one RSS feed
• Facts & Figures
• 1799 mashups
• +3/day
• Types of mashups pie chart
• Mashup Matrix
• Mashup typology
• presentation
• client-side data
• client-side software
• server-side software
  
  
• server-side data
• Where to start
• point, lick & publish
• Google My Maps
• APIs/Web Services
• get an idea
• get a developer token
• read the fine print about use
• Community Walk
• Learn from Others
• Western Springs History
• just do it
• lib-web-cats
• directory by Marshal Breeding

CIL2007: Using Social Media for Community Engagement (Tuesday Keynote)

Andy Carvin, National Public Radio (www.andycarvin.com/complibraries.ppt)

• Head of NPR's Web 2.0 streategy
• Traditional Media Production
• publisher
• broadcaster
• billboard owner
• drag a sign from a plane
• hold up a sign at a sporting event
• Web 1.0
• read instead of produce
  
  
• HTML
• Programming
• Graphic design
• hosting ability
• promotion mechanisms
• Web 2.0
• new software makes content creation easy
• people focus on ideas and creativity rather than technical know-how
• "the read-write web"
• "we media"
• Social software and the democratization of content
• classblogmeister.com
• flickr.com
• epnweb.org
• blip.tv
• youtube.com
• common thread: online communities where people are actively encouraged to use and share each other's original content
• Content production: All the cool kids are doin' it
• [see notes from PEW keynote yesterday for stats]
• The Web 2.0 Universe
• geotags
• blogging
• aggregation
• podcasting
• folksonomies
• rating
• vlogging
• community discussions
• tagging
• IM
• SMS
  
  
• mashups
• RSS
• wikis
• citizen journalism
• online social networks
• Most famous examples: Blogs
• early days: online geeks have personal homepages
• blogging software made it easy for everyone
• fill-in-a-form publishing
• today: 60-100 million+ blogs online
• perception: a media-blogger war of attrition
• The media hates bloggers
• can't trust trust them to get it right
• have agendas/biases
• mob mentality
• don't respect journalists
• don't do hard news
• bloggers hat the media
• you can't trust old media
• claim their unbiaser
• dominated by soundbites
• don't respect the public's brains
• always pandering to lowest common denominator
• Today: Happy Internet, the war is over
• concerted attempts at finding understanding between the media and the blogosphere
• media/blog collaboration now more common
• greater emphasis on "networked journalism" (Jeff Jarvis)
  
  
• finding ways for the media to work with "the people formerly as the audience" (Jay Rosen)
• Why are media outlets embracing Web 2.0
• improving journalistic transparency
• creating a public dialogue
• tapping into public knowledge and creativity
• new collaborative opportunities with affiliates
• maybe it's profitable, too?
• Open piloting
• inviting the public to help create new broadcast programming
• sharing rough drafts of shows before they're ready for prime time
• a focus group, but everyone's welcome
• examples: Rough Cuts, Bryant Park
• Radio Open Source
• "a blog with a radio show"
• not about open source software
• opens editorial process to the public
• invites users to submit & debate program ideas
• users recommend guests & questions
• asks users to participate on-air
• Similar: TOTN, WHYS
• BBC Have Your Say
• centralized forum for discussion news
• only select stories covered
• two-tiered moderation
• users can rate each others' comments
• CNN iReport
• http://www.cnn.com/exchange/
• CNN citizen journalism project w/ blip.tv
• users submit photos, video for specific stories
• best clips included on air
• published early video from VT shootings
• "tell your friends, iReport for CNN"
• USA Today
• embedding social networking across the site
• note balkanized to a special section
• users can comment
• OhMyNews
• english.ohmynews.com
• Korean online news service
• dedicates 20% of its space to citizen journalism
• ones that submit consistently get paid
• Global Voices
• www.globalvoices.org
• bridge blogging
• Vote Guide
• Minnesote E-Debate
• NewAssignment.net
• So What Should You do?
• community blogs & discussions
• more...
• bathroom in South Africa photo

CIL2007: Web 2.0 and What it Means to Libraries

Lee Rainie, Director, Pew Internet and American Life Project

• "I adore librarians"
• Ask a Ninja: What is Podcasting
• The Starting Point
• Tim O'Reilly & John Battelle
• The Web as platform
• netscape v google
• doubleclick v adsense
• akami v bittorrent
• harnesing collective intelligence
• data is the next "intel inside"
• software above the level of a single device
• rich user experiences
• Changes
• cashing - peer to peer
• britannice - wiki
• personal sites - blogging
• evite - upcoming.org
• doubleclick - adsense
• ofoto - flickr
• taxonomy - folksonomies
  
  
• etc
• Web 2.0 meme map
• 6 hallmarks of the Web 2.0 world that matter to libraries
• The Internet has become the computer
• # of computer users is indistinguishable from # of Internet users
• Broadband availability up
• Internet users # up
• wireless connectivity up
• people go online from more places
• # of people accessing internet from libraries has doubled in past 4 years
• broadband turns the internet into a destination
• broadband intensifies people's internet use and it becomes more serious
• broadband makes video a big part of the internet experience
• broadband make people's internet use more social
• Tens of millions of Americans, especially the young, are creating and sharing content online
• 55% of teens have profiles on social networking sites
• 20% of adults have profiles on social networking sites
• SN Profiles: Switchboards for social life
• Teen girls more likely to use all SN features
• 51% of young adults have uploaded photos / 37% of adults
  
  
• 39% of teens share their own creations / 22% of adults
• 33% of teens are tech support for their families & orgs / 13% of adults
• 25% of kids / 33% college students / 12% adults have blogs
• 27% of teens / 14% adults have their own Web site
• 26% teens / 9% adults have created mashups
• 19% teens / 9% adults have an avatar to interact with others
  
  
• 15% teens / 8% adults have created videos
• Even more internet users are accessing the content created by others
• Long Tail audience
• 46% of young users read blogs
• 44% of young adults seek info in wikipedia
• 14% of young users download podcasts
• many are sharing what they know and what they feel online and this is building conversations and communities
• 33% of young adults have rated a product, person, or service online
• 32% of young adults have tagged content
• 25% of YA have commented on videos, also blogs & photos
• tens of thousands are contributing their knowhow and processing power
• 40% of users participate in peer-to-peer
• grid computing
• open source movement
• online Americans are customizing their online experiences
• 40% of YA customize news and other information pages
• 50%+ of YA on specialty listservs
• 25%-33% of YA get RSS feeds
• 5 issues libraries and all online participants must struggle to address - Pam Berger - http://www.infosearcher.org/
• Navigation
• transitioning from linear format to nonlinear in format
• Context
• learning to see connections
• Focus
• practicing reflection & deep thinking
• Skepticism
• learning to evaluate information
• Ethical behavior
• understanding the rules of cyberspace
• The Machine is Using Us
  
  

Technorati Tags: cil2007

Twitter @ CIL2007

If you want to follow the Twitter feed from CIL you can find it in the conference wiki @ http://cil2007.pbwiki.com/Twitter%20Feed. There you can also find the URL for the RSS feed if you wish to subscribe in your aggregator.

If you would like your tweets to show up in this feed send an e-mail with your Twitter username to me (msauers[at]travelinlibrarian.info) and I'll add you.

Package Tracking Widget

Here's a great new Vista sidebar widget that allows for near-real-time package tracking. This is even better than doing is via RSS. It's available from the Windows Live Gallery.

My first pipe

I finally got around to playing with Yahoo Pipes today and came up with a list of Lincoln, NE-related library Web sites, blog posts, and photographs. The output can be seen @ http://pipes.yahoo.com/. Here's an image of how the pipe's set up. (You can also see the back end by going to the output page and clicking on "view pipe".

del.icio.us RSS

It turns out that more than 50% of requests for data from the del.icio.us site are from RSS, not humans. Because of this the folks at del.icio.us are working to improve what gets delivered via their RSS feeds such as "offering the ability to save bookmarks straight from your feed reader" and "displaying an up-to-date count of saves, without making items appear new again in feed readers". More details on the del.icio.us blog.

Slow Performance From Outlook 2007?

I'm not experiencing slowdowns but it does make me wonder about usuing Outlook 2007 as a feed agregator.

"Adding RSS feeds can quickly swell the in-boxes of many users to more than 2GB of data, according to O'Kelly. He said that causes Outlook 2007, especially when it's running on PCs that don't have large amounts of memory, to write to the hard drive much more often than it typically does -- resulting in performance slowdowns. Hopefully, Microsoft will be able to better tune that part of the software before the next major release, O'Kelly said."

Book signing @ CIL2007

For those of you that still don't own a copy of Blogging and RSS: A Librarian's Guide and will be attending Computers in Libraries in April, I will be doing a book signing at the Information Today booth. It will be during the afternoon coffee break on Tuesday from 2:30-3:15pm. See you there!

Wishlists via RSS

I just noticed that you can subscribe to someone's Amazon.com wishlist via RSS!

Windows Vista Myths

There's a lot of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) about Windows Vista out there these days. Here's a great article debunking 10 Windows Vista myths.

Feed change

Those that are subscribed to my RSS feed, please take note. I've moved to a FeedBurner version. If you don't know what that means, don't worry. The important bit is that the old one will be going away. If you're subscribed to the feed located at http://www.travelinlibrarian.info/atom.xml please unsubscribe and resubscribe to the new version at http://feeds.feedburner.com/TravelinLibrarian. (This is the one that the Syndicate link in the sidebar points to.) Thanks!

SWILSALibs

Karen at the South West Iowa Library Service Area is at it again. This time she's created a mashup using MapBuilder.net resulting in a Google map of libraries in the SWILSA region. She's also including data from RSS Calendar on the SWILSA home page.

Technology to Michael: "You're not the boss of me!"

I'm in the Eastern Iowa Airport (Cedar Rapids, IA) using the free WiFi to get caught up from this four day trip to Iowa City, IA for two days of BCR workshops and an afternoon speaking to the staff of the Iowa City Public Library about the Social Web as part of their in-service day. Today went well and everyone enjoyed it including myself. The previous two days however, if it could go wrong it did. Cases in point:

• For the blogs class, Blogger finally decided to send everyone creating a new blog to the beta version. This meant that many of my handouts didn't match what they were looking at on the screen, didn't match the screen I was projecting and there were new/changed features that I wasn't prepared to discuss.
• In the RSS workshop, FeedXS finally convinced me that it's useless for class purposes and I was pretty much forced to just tell everyone to skip it and ignore that part of the handouts.
• I taught my podcasting class for the first time and, instead of ending up with a short list of things to tweak for the next time out, I need to redo about 50% of the workshop and change the focus for the second half of the class. And, the BCR FTP server decided that it kept wanting to drop my connection so I couldn't upload the students' MP3 files to the server to get to work with the software I was trying to teach them.
• During the wiki class I instructed all eleven students on how to create a Wikipedia account, something I've done many other times. This time, six of them were able to create accounts while the other five got error messages informing them that six accounts had already been created from that IP address and no other new accounts would be allowed for 24 hours. Turns out that to the outside world all of ICPL's computers are represented by one IP address. Great for the network architecture and for security reasons but it causes problems with Wikipedia's security. A good portion of the class was from that point on a demo instead of hands on.

Needless to say it's been a long week and I need a few solid nights of sleep before getting back to the office on Monday and updating the material for those classes before teaching them again in January.

Tomorrow: The Social Web

Tomorrow I'm presenting a one-hour talk on "The Social Web" to the staff of the Iowa City Public Library for their in-service day. For those interested, here's my slides:

CAL2006: Keeping Current with Technology: How Popular Trends in Technology Can (and Should) be Put to Use in Your Library

Steve Lawson, Colorado College & Emilee Satterwhite, Mesa County Public Library

• http://keepingcurrent.pbwiki.com/
• Blogs
• Website that displays postings in reverse chroological order...
• How are blogs useful for librarians
• professional development
• keep current
• get ideas for the library
• generate discussion
• How do you find the time to read them all?
• use and aggregator such as Bloglines
• How are blogs useful for libraries
• Blogging Libraries Wiki
• communicate between libraries and users
• internal communication
• readers' advisory
• don't let the possible problems keep you from doing it
• How do Emilie and Steve use blogs?
• Blogger
• mcpldteens.blogspot.com
• librarianslove.blogspot.com
• bookleggerlibrarian.blogspot.com
• Moveable Type
• library.coloradocollege.edu/bookends
• /colospgslibs
• /program
• /steve
• /news
• Wikis
• What is a wiki?
• Web page any one can edit
• new pages and links created automatically
• HTML knowledge not necessary
• collaborative
• revision history
• Wikipedia
• the site librarians love to hate
• or is it hate to love
• an encyclopedia can edit
• Wikis for keeping current
• Library Success
• LISWiki
• IRead Wiki
• Library Instruction Wiki
• futurelib
• Blogging Libraries Wiki
• A wiki at your Library
• Michael Sauers on "blogorwiki"
• Intranets
• Conference planning
• Subject guides
• Colloborative space
• Committee space
• Community Wikis
• Setting up your Wiki
• Choose software
• wiki farms
• wiki software
• WikiMatrix
• give it some structure
• set people loose
• Feeds
• What is the point
• keep up with blogs, news, weather, etc.
• need a feed reader
• RSS or Atom
• different flavors of the same thing
• Consume Feeds
• Online readers
• bloglines
• google reader
• stand-along readers
• NetNewsWire Lite
• Sharp Reader
• Find Feeds
• Look for the icon
• Other
• Library Elf
• Package Tracking
• Photos
• wiki changes
• legislation
• weather
• Convey Feeds
• Publish info via feeds
• Examples on presentation wiki
• Create Feeds
• Run blog through FeedBurner
• Generate out fo your courseware
• Out of your ILS
• Podcasting
• What is podcasting
• audio blogging via feeds
• why should we be podcasting
• outreach
• patrons may already be confortable with listening to them
• how are libraries currently podcasting
• book reviews
• poetry
• storytime
• adult news & reviews
• video podcasts
• events
• how to find or listen
• iTunes
• Juice
• podcast search engines
• what equipment/software is needed
• recording software
• microphone
• odeo studio (online hosting)
• basic procedure
• igure out what you're going to say
• say/record
• publish

CAL2006 Conference

Friday and Saturday I'll be attending the Colorado Association of Libraries (CAL) 2006 conference here in Denver, CO. I'll be of course posting to my blog about it as much as I can. Additionally:

• I will be presenting my Tech Terms session on Saturday @ 2pm. At this point I don't know what room I'll be presenting in. (Heather Clark of BCR and Steve Lawson of Colorado College will be performing a special introduction to my presentation. This is something you're not going to want to miss.)
• My latest book Blogging and RSS: A Librarian's Guide will be available for purchase at the BCR booth at a conference discounted price of only $24.00. (Cash and checks only.)
• At 3pm on Saturday during the ice cream social I will be signing my book at the BCR booth.
• At CAL's request I've set up a conference wiki on which will be posted conference updates and session reviews during the conference. Be sure to check it out if you're not attending the conference.
• Yesterday I worked with the folks running the conference to standardize on the tag "cal2006" when it comes to posting flickr photos and blogging. So, if you're looking for photos or other blog posts just search on that tag.

I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone at the conference so be sure to find me and say hi.

The hazards of letting people use your flickr photos

When I tell students in my blog and RSS workshops that I have set up a number of "ego feeds" (feeds that search on my name and blog address so I can read what others are saying about me) I usually receive some titters from the crowd. But, in all honesty, this is the only way I'll ever know how what I've published online is being received and (re)used. In this case, a Bloglines citation search on my blog's URL that led me to this PBS blog post shown to the right.

The post is a long one about how people are rude when it comes to cell phone use in today's society. Something I do agree with. In it are comments from many others about when and where cell phone use is appropriate. In about the middle of the post someone writes "And in the worst-of-the-worst category, don’t use a cell phone... While in the library." Next to this text is a copy of a recent photo I took in Wichita, KS of a sign from Friends University that states "Please turn off cell phones in the library".

The use of my photo is a mostly legitimate one as it follows most of the rules of the Creative Commons license I assign to all of my photos: Attribution (I'm given credit at the end of the post), Noncommercial (It's a PBS blog, we're cool there), and Share Alike (Well, they don't exactly pass along this license, but they don't specifically change the license either. A link to the photo on flickr would have done this but instead they linked to my blog. Eh, close enough for me.) However, this not where my complaint lies.

Where I have a problem is that the use of my photo implies (to me, let me know if it doesn't to you) that I agree with the statement that the photo is illustrating. Those of you who know me (or at least read my blog) know that I'm not in agreement with policies that ban cell phones from libraries. I agree with banning bad behavior, which may or may not involve a cell phone, but not with banning the technology because people are rude. Sure, ban them in theaters since talking has been banned. But unless you're banning talking from your library, there's no logical reason to ban cell phones.

Don't get me wrong, I'm flattered that a blogger at PBS felt my photo worthy of inclusion, and I don't want this post to cause the blogger to feel that the photo should be removed. The point of this post is two-fold. First, to point out to readers of the PBS post that I do not agree with the comments made in association with my photograph. Second, to remind people that do follow my advice to post their photos to flickr and let others use them, that once you do so, you will loose some control over your work and need to be able to live with that.

SpringWidget RSS Reader

Similar to Grazr, SpringWidgets' RSS reader allows you to embed an RSS reader in your Web page. According to the company "this widget is the staple of our platform. Read all your feeds right here with this one widget - Supported feeds are OPML, RSS, RDF, ATOM. Watch your favorite Podcast in the embedded Video Player on the Desktop or publish your own video playlist to your site for others to view!" The first example used a flickr feed, the second a podcast, and the third uses an OPML file. The size of the embedded reader is customizable so I've made each one a different size to demonstrate this. As to why the OPML version is showing "undefined" I have no idea as I am using a valid OPML file.

Get this widget!

Get this widget!

Get this widget!

Blogging and RSS in LibraryThing

Blogging and Rss: A Librarian's Guide is listed in LibraryThing and is currently "owned" by five people including myself. I thought I'd be fist but I guess the other four put it into their accounts before actually receiving their copies. One question for librarywebchic: What's the tag "book prop" mean?

Amazon Feed Generator

My Blogging/RSS book didn't include a service that creates custom feeds from Amazon.com searches because the one I originally wrote about disappeared prior to publication. However, thanks to Steven M. Cohen I now know about the Amazon Feed Generator from onfocus.com. Thanks Steven!

Blogging and RSS: A Librarian's Handbook (Eratta)

The eratta page for Blogging and RSS: A Librarian's Handbook is now available. Yes, there's already an update; found by Steven M. Cohen.

IL2006: Blogging Update - Applications & Tips

Syndication and Website Content: Suggestions for Blogs, RSS and Internal Syndication Walter Nelson, RAND Library Webmaster

• RSS: The I don't get it factor
• very few peopel understand RSS
• you have to meet your users where they are
• not where you want them to be
• Symplifying RSS
• embed into web pages
• people get web pages
• use RSS w/o downloading anything
• ....
• The Tools
• Blog: Moveable Type
• RSS Parser: Feed2JS
• There are others in the market but I won't be talking about them
• Mooveable Type setup
• installation is the hard part
• insatlled on your server
• use "canned formats" or can be customized
• can be formatted to look like your site
• can be formatted to be your site
• Moveable Type Features
• easy to use
• adminsitrator has controll over authors
• web interface to add content
• generates static HTML pages
• automatically generates RSS feed
• Think outside the blog
• blog is a tech with many features
• database publishing tool which sorts by chronology and category
• you don't have to use a blog for blogging
• corp announcements, event calendar, image database, online newspaper, etc.
• Feed2JS
• second piece of the puzzle
• free from feed2js.org
• use theris site or install on their server
• generates JavScript to republish RSS feed content
• as bulleted list of links on your site
• hosted vs. installed
• no charge without special prep
• really easy to do
• pitfall: slows down load time
• moral: install on your server if at all possible
• "anncouncements" on RAND intranet is an RSS feed
• click headline to get the blog entry
• creates searchable archive
• [data entry screenshot]
• Feed2JS creates RSS driven content
• [Feed2JS interface screenshot]
• Additional uses
• external newsfeeds
• statis links list
• resource list for menus
• customers can subscribe to our links
• [example library news page screenshot]
• Category feeds
• parse feeds by category
• one blog creates multiple feeds
• Uses
• branch specific headings
• all announcements homepage
• Empower your users but not all the users use the power

Using Blogs for Internal Communications Karen Coombs, University of Houston

• why blogs
• existing tech infrastructure was not well not used
• easy for staff to create and maintain content
• space for staff to provide feedback
• good for positioning news-type information
• how it began
• development of library's strategic directions
• web management committee
• many different blogs
• committees
• service points
• Circ
• Reference
• working groups
• instruction team
• science librarians
• blogs for committees
• make announcements
• post minnutes and other docs
• gather on what the committee is doing
• [web management committee blog screenshot]
• service point blogs
• maintained by desk staff
• announcements
• new resources
• problems
• questions
• display on all computers at desk
• [Ref blog screenshot]
• workgroup blogs
• allow people to share info
• post items of note or interest
• reading materials for discussion
• [library instruction blog screenshot]
• unresolved issues
• feed subscription issues
• how does it fit with the current intranet
• integration with existing authentication systems
• keeping up with changes to blog permission
• old version of PHP needed for what we're doing but other software needes current version of PHP

Blogs & Public Libraries Aaron Schmidt, Thomas Ford Memorial Library

• No one cares that you have a blog
• it isn't about the technology for the patrons
• it is about connecting
• Lamson Library WPOPAC
• Thomas Ford Memorial Library - Films on the Ford DVD list
• opac link
• imdb link
• commenting
• WesternSpringsHistory.org
• flickr tools
• flickr uploadr
• Blog this
• flickr badge
• new materials on flickr
• westmont library
• Firefox 2.0
• built in spellcheck
• meebo me
• blog elsewhere
• follow through

IL2006: What's Hot in Social Softwr

Stephen M. Cohen, Senior Librarian, Law Library Management, Inc.

• AJAX
• Beta Browster
• CoComment Cohen Family Recipies (.blogspot.com)
• Digg
• Econsultant (Web 2.0 directory)
• flickr
• gmail (chat)
• "Hype"
• Image Editors
• resizr.lord-lance.com
• pxn8.com
• snipshot.com
• Jenny Levine
• LibraryThing
• (Babes with Books)
• Moo Meebo Media Convert Mojeek Muppets Wiki
• Netvibes
• OCLC
• Pandora Purevideo (Video metasearch)
• RSS
• Stephens, Michael Snapper Slideshare
• Trackback? Type of the Day
• utube.com
• Wikis
• YouTube
• Zoho

Others

• Gmail Space Firefox Extension
• Twingine
• Flock
• Gliffy
• i-am-bored.com?
• qumana.com
• last.fm
• citeulike.org
• Xanga
• Picasa
• Odeo

IL2006: Day 2 wrapup

Yesterday was just as fun as the rest of the conference. I started with my usual coffee and WiFi at Plumes followed quickly by the credit card crisis. The opening keynote with Clifford Lynch was not nearly as entertaining as the one with J.A. Jance was but, despite some people finding him predictable and boring, I enjoyed it. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

Two sessions later I was off to a very quick lunch fish & chips at Britannia Arms with Karen and Michelle. The rush was due to the fact that I needed to be back for my Flickr presentation with Michael Porter. Turns out that our three non-US co-presenters were not just from out of the country but were actually out of the country. They all had sent in pre-recorded talks during which Michael changed the slides at pre-determined times. Yes folks, this was a surprise even to me! However, it all worked out great and, since I was the last in line for actually presenting, it did make sure that three of the five of us didn't go over their allotted time. ;-)

Michael and the others did the high-level stuff about flickr and I did the "fluff". But all my stuff wasn't total fluff. There was an audible "wow" when I showed what the Westmont Public Library was doing with flickr and their new acquisitions.

I then attended the MySpace & Facebook session in which I learned a few new things that I'll be checking out when I get back. (Maybe I'll even get a Facebook account...) I had my power strip with me today and at one point there were eleven laptops in the room's front row with seven of them plugged into my powerstrip. I was planning on attending Meridith's RSS & Javascript Cookbook session but it turned out that most of what she was covering I'd done in my pre-conference so I decided to go back and collapse in my room for a while.

From 6-8pm was the speaker's reception up on the top floor of the Marriott. Great nibbles and conversation were had by (I assume) all. I did get a short vid of the Monterey Bay while the sun was still up. (The narration turned out horribly but I didn't want to bother to redo it.)

After the reception many of us ended up back at the Crown & Anchor for dinner, libations, and conversation. I finally gave up at about 11:30 and crashed back in the room about 12:30am.

As exhausted as I am this morning, I can't stress how much I enjoy going out with everyone. On one level, networking with everyone here and meeting new people makes the conference more worthwhile than the official sessions. For those of you that are here through tonight and haven't gone out with others yet, please do so. Despite how tired you'll be tomorrow, it is definitely worth it.

Great news!

It's late and I'm exhausted but I need to share something too cool to wait for the morning. It seems that all 50 copies of Blogging and RSS: A Librarian's Guide that Information Today brought to the conference have sold out in less than 24 hours! So, since I'm still scheduled to do a signing tomorrow (uh, today I guess) they're overnighting another 50 copies for the event. I'm totally excited by this news and so is Information Today.

IL2006: Podacsting & Videocasting

Greg Schwartz, Louisville Free Public Library
Sean Cordes, Iowa State University
Jeff Humphrey, INCOLSA
David Free, Georgia Perimeter College
David King, Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library
10:30am-12:15pm

Greg: Podcasting & Videocasting

• distribute audio content via RSS
• allows users to subscribe and automaticall get your content
• about regularly updated content
• why?
• to understand the technology and explore the possibilities
• to fit in the organizational goals
• if it's the right things for your patrons
• if you're already creating audio content
• NOT because I tell you to
• Warning
• not a one time deal
• takes time
• plan
• record
• edit
• publish
• promote
• recognize time commentment before doing it
• what to podcast?
• programming (get permission)
• upcoming events & library news
• bib instruction
• services for the visually impaired
• staf training & communication
• whatever you imagine
• 9 easy steps to podcasting
• determine content and format
• assemble equipment and people
• record
• edit and export to mp3
• listen!
• upload file to the server
• generate your RSS feed
• publish feed URL
• promote, respond and repeat

Jeff: Video Podcasting @ INCOLSA

• has a 10 year archive of stock video footage
• why, what, had in place, need to do, production tips
• Why
• because we can
• natural progression of existing services
• started with videotape and satellite dish
• died due to hail this year
• looking for a different delivery solution
• current streaming conract ending
• most videos too long for flash
• What have we done?
• old school solution
• converting existing content
• stored on out Web server
• write RSS feed from scratch [!!!]
• put up a web page
• partneres with IUPUI SLIS Class
• Obtained administrative support
• What we had in place
• experience
• video end
• IT end
• Workshp end
• equipment
• space
• physical
• virtual
• content
• What we need to do
• find a better space for videos
• convert to a blog format
• continue production on a regular basis
• foster more partnerships
• more content pipelines
• showcase what libraries are doing
• Production Tips
• have a reason to include video
• invest in a good microphone
• frame shots properly
• enhance production with graphics
• have fun

David Free: Listen Up: Podcasting @ GPC Decatur Library

• Podcasting 1.0
• Library News
• gpcdecaturlrc.blogspot.com/2005/02/audio-news-2.html
• every few weeks, 10-12min
• database news, events, acquistions
• audio format of blog
• 8 things I learned about podcasting
• make sure it feeds (right mime type)
• promote, then promote some more
• keep it short
• use music sparringly
• multiple voices rock
• podcast events
• consider your web presence
• listen to your listeners
• Podcast 2.0
• Listen Up!
• gpcdecaturlrc.blogspot.com/2005/06/listen-up-4.html
• more of an online radio show
• abt once a month
• 20-30min
• lib news & connection of lib to campus
• Under the hood
• UB mic
• audacity
• 96/kbps MP3
• liberated syndication (external hosting service)
• feedburner
• Podcast 3.0
• www.gpc.edu/~declib/podcasts.htm
• podcast directory
• subscription instructions
• asks for suggestions
• The future
• ROI is good
• more direct downloads, less subscriptions
• thinking of screencasting and videocasting

Sean Cordes: [missed the title & first 2 minutes]

• Generally Speaking
• engagement
• interaction
• reflection
• Some points to consider
• build a point of information
• point to something some else has built
• Build, boradcast and bolster
• build community on student experiences
• promote the library through podcasts
• podcasts as a professional development tool
• Using student experiences to share learning
• HigherEd BlogCon
• other examples & links
• Student government
• student-led tours
• podcasts and library promotion
• Omnibus - Downling College Library
• Longshots - North Suburban LIbrary System, Illinois
• Podcasting for Professional Development
• Syndication for HigherEd podcasting
• ALA library 2.0 podcasts
• search for "lecture" on itunes & get more than 40 education podcasts

David King: Introduction to Videoblogging

• davidleeking.com/etc
• Rocketboom
• what to call it
• vlogs
• videoblog
• video podcast
• vodcast
• v-log
• videocart
• what is it?
• video on a blog
• stevegarfiled.com
• drumming lessons
• Orlando Public Library
• why is it getting big?
• storage, bandwidth, fast web
• cheap easy mobile video
• video ipods
• 2005 it really took off
• people discovering great uses that are "just right" for video
• how do you watch them
• just click...
• computer w/ broadband
• video player
• WMV
• quicktime
• flash
• video aggregator would be nice
• fireant
• iTunes
• medfeedia
• coolest way to watch
• iPod
• or a clone
• or a PSP
• watch at your convienence
• how do you create them?
• needs
• computer
• video camera
• video editing software
• a blog
• formats
• you also need an idea
• storage
• store yourself
• server
• bandwidth
• store elsewhere
• ourmedia
• blip.tv
• Internet Archive
• YouTube
• YouTube
• very popular right now
• they store the video
• they keep stats
• allows for comments
• don't allow downloading
• is that a problem for you?
• what can libraries do with them
• traditional
• book talk
• bib instruction & tutorials
• film your events
• more interesting ideas
• cultural memory
• collaborative
• environments
• behind the scenes
• wacked ideas
• travel / local attractions
• political
• hobbies / lifestyles
• For more info
• books via amazon
• groups.yahoo.com/group/videoblogging
• vloggercon

IL2006: Day 1 Recap

It was a totally full day as expected. I started by waking at 5:30am and heading down to Plumes for coffee & WiFi. Karen and Michelle met me there and then we all headed to the opening Keynote. J.A. Jance was an interesting choice but she told the moving story of her life and ended with singing. The standing ovation even had her get back up and sing another song! How's that for a totally unexpected keynote? I spent the morning attending sessions and those I've already blogged so I won't repeat them here. I caught up with Greg Schwartz for lunch at India's Clay Oven and headed back for another session or two. I finally caught up with Rachel Singer-Gordon and got her to let me into the yet-to-be-opened exhibitors area to get me a copy of my Blog/RSS book. It looked great! Information Today was now down to just 49 copies at the conference. At 3:15pm was my session with Lori Bell and Tom Peters on the Alliance Second Life Library 2.0 project. The room totally filled with folks standing in the back. The presentation went great and I almost lost it on stage laughing so hard when Lori started talking about the "sex and gambling" in Second Life and how InfoIsland was a haven from "all that" for some. We did have time to take a few questions and I believe we answered them to the audience's satisfaction. I then relaxed, checked my e-mail and headed off to the evening exhibitors reception. I caught up with too many people to name beyond the usual suspects. I also finally met Amy Reeve from IT who got my book through the final post-editing stages of publication. During the reception I saw at least five copies of my book sold and I'm sure they sold more than that while I wasn't looking. If everything goes well, they'll all be sold and everyone will come back for the book signing on Wednesday. Then I was of to Isabella's for dinner with the Second Life crowd. A few of the regulars showed up along with some newbies. One of them was Rowan who said she'd signed up for SL right after our talk and was interested in helping as soon as she gets off Welcome Island. Jenny Levine was also at the dinner and filled some of us in on many of the "quirks" of working at ALA. Then we crashed the gathering of the "Five Weeks to a Social Library" gathering down at the Crown & Anchor. There ended up being about 20 people there and I met many more new people. I finally ended up back at the hotel about 10pm to crash. (This morning my company credit card doesn't seem to be working. I need to make a phone call.)

IL2006: The Social Web

Jesse Andrews, creator of BookBurro & lead developer of Flock 1:15-2pm Beyond Browsing

• About me
• programmer
• theoretical quantum computation
• web deveopment
• browser development
• not a librarian
• Greasemonkey & userscripts
• the web as your playgound
• Book Burro
• userscripts grow into extensions
• Flock
• extensions grow into browsers
• Browser 101: What are URLs
• www.infotoday.com resolves to IP address
• document returned bu that server is (not valid) HTML 4.01 transitional
• IP address might have information about the URL
• Google has info abt URL
• wayback machine may have info
• technorati may have info
• browsers use these resources to show render a representation of the url
• HTML has a recommendation
• Greasemonkey
• you provide the information about the URL
• created bu Aaron Boodman (now @ Google)
• simple idea
• update pages
• fix sites
• add relevancy (link to Yahoo from Google results)
• hide ads
• remove myspace music/backgrounds/styles
• new functionality
• new ideas
• Amazon Music Helper
• Free legal music
• lnk directly to the free downloadable MP3s
• de-xeni
• Boing Boing
• removes risque posts
• userscripts.org
• greasemonkey repository
• built in 2 nights in ruby on rails
• thousands of scripts
• millions of page views
• The day greasemonkey changed the internet
• make requests outside yor domain
• Book Burro
• remixing books
• open data - web services
• screen scraping for ISBN
• 300 (horrible) lines of JavaScript
• unintended uses - acquisitions
• Book Burro + Libraries
• Book Burro + World Cat
• Book Burro + Library Lookup
• John Udell
• Book Burro + Talis
• Silkworm Directory
• Book Burro + Book Mooch
• Find in online swap sites
• Future
• Side project
• ideas/requests? tell me.
• Flock
• open source social web browser built on firefox
• flickr
• advanced search
• rss reader
• blog editor
• full text search of history/bookmarks
• del.icio.us intergration

IL2006: Innovative Uses of Web 2.0 Technologies

Karen Coombs, University of Houston Jason Clark, Montana State University Karen: Incorporating Web 2.0 into Library Web Sites

• What is Web 2.0
• Services to collaborate & share
• movement toward more dynamic & interactice web
• examples
• social software
• blogs
• del.icio.is
• wikis
• folksonomies
• rss
• APIs
• AJAX
• Radical Decentralization
• Web site updated and created by many different people
• wikis & blogs
• librariy web site allows any staff to update any content
• Small Pieces Loosely Joined
• Combination of different technologies
• wikis
• blogs
• CMS
• Library's CMS made up of modules for different content types
• content is resuable throughout the site
• any piece of the CMS can be replaced as needed
• Perpetual Beta
• deploy systems early and make constant improvements
• users are part of the development process
• deploy new systems to a small group of staff to test and help us refine
• gather constant input and make continuous improvements
• Remixable Content
• APIs allow content to be incorporated into other systems
• library web site can incorporate content from external sources
• content which is part of the library's site can be used on multiple pages
• AJAX to add database link to any page, blog, wiki
• User as contributor
• allows users to add and update content
• class wikis
• wiki model for CMS
• instutitional repositories for scholarly content from faculty, students and staff
• library hosts blogs
• user tagging and review content in catalog
• Rich User Experience
• multimedia, interactivity, GUI-style application experience
• video
• sound
• screencasts
• personalization and customization
• space for collaboration and interaction
• chat
• VoIP
• Demo of UofH's CMS

Jason: Social Tagging and Folksonomies in Practice

• Agenda
• examples
• define
• suggest applications
• pros & cons
• where can you learn more
• Examples
• del.icio.is
• amazon
• flickr
• technorati
• Definitions
• Tagging
• assigning descriptive metadata
• Tag
• The descriptive metadata
• Folksonomies
• taxonomy created by folks
• Library use cases
• find additional access points in library catalogs
• assign friendly terms to indexes and databases
• create communities of practice around library articles
• organize a series of web pahes for a library guide
• give users opportunities to label library web pages
• Library applications
• tags.library.upenn.edu
• WPOPAC
• Social Tagging: Why does it work?
• embracessocal nature of the web
• curency
• scales to large datasets
• offers a broader discovery model
• adaptable
• maps and displays simple relationships between items
• What's the Hitch?
• lack of precision
• lack of true hierarchy
• vulnerable to "gaming" of the system
• lack of a controlled vocabulary
• users can be wrong
• When to use it?
• establish an architecture of participation
• organize resources for a company intranet
• allow a class to collaborate and buils a reference guide
• build and refine library controlled vocabulary
• anytime there is a browse or search function
• Reference list...
• ZoomCloud
• TagCloud
• tagsonomy.com (blog)
• FreeTag
• unalog
• Final thoughts
• design matters
• scale matters
• a new source of data

Presentation files

The PPT file for my RSS pre-conference is up on my presentations page. The files for my flickr and Second Life presentations will be up after they've been presented. (Once I have copies of the final versions too.)

Internet Librarian: Day -1

Sunday was wonderful. Up a little early due to the time change and off to Bay Books across the street for coffee and free WiFi. (The connection in my room, still wouldn't work.) Caught up with Karen Coombs for some breakfast at the Bagel place up the street and then some more coffee at Cafe Noir next to the theatre. (They've got 54Mbps WiFi but don't take credit cards so bring cash.) Back to the conference center to pick up my registration materials and badge. A quick check of the Internet connection in the room for my pre-conference worked first try so I could relax and have some lunch with the workshop attendees. There I met up with Karen Burns of the South-West Iowa Library Service Area, and two of her librarian/board members.) Of course, I'm in my white RSS polo shirt and we has mannicotti with red sauce for lunch. Back to my room to change my shirt and I was off the my pre-conference. On the way I caught up with Frank Cervone, Darlene Fichter, and Jane Dysart for a few minutes.

My RSS session went almost flawlessly. Right at the start the bulb in the projector decided it was too old but Bill Spence came to my rescue and replaced the bulb. I ended up with an almost full room of about 30 students and they all asked an amazing number of high quality questions. Finally, one gentleman in the front row raised his hand and said "since you've only got ten minutes left, could you just cover the highlights of the last five tools you still have to show?" I've never had a workshop go as quickly as this one did. Thanks to everyone who attended. (I'll post the PowerPoint later but the (ugly) test page that was created to demo many of the tools I covered can be found @ http://www.travelinlibrarian.info/rsstest.html.)

After the session I caught back up with Karen Coombs and Michelle a coworker of Kren's from University of Houston. A brief hi and chat with Jenny Levine and Karen, Michelle and I caught back up with Karen Burns and her crew for a Greek dinner at Epsilon. I was actually back to my room by 8pm, finished reading Bob Woodward's State of Denial and off to sleep. (Yep, that's why I'm up and blogging at 6:30am.

Photos are up-to-date in flickr and the opening keynote's at 9. cu l8r.

What is RSS an acronym for?

Received this in my e-mail last night. Thanks Sara!

Title
Detection of rotaviruses and intestinal lesions in broiler chicks from flocks with runting and stunting syndrome (RSS).

Source
Avian Diseases. 50(3):411-8, 2006 Sep.

Abstract
The intestinal tract and intestinal contents were collected from 34 stunted, 5-to-14-day-old broiler chicks from eight flocks with runting and stunting syndrome (RSS) in Northern Germany to investigate intestinal lesions and the presence of enteric pathogens with a special focus on rotaviruses (RVs). Seven chicks from a healthy flock were used as controls. Severe villous atrophy was seen in chicks from six flocks with RSS but not in the control flock. Lesions were often "regionally" distributed in the middle-to-distal small intestine. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis (PAGE), reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and seminested RT-PCR were used for detection and characterization of RVs. The PAGE allows discrimination of different RV groups, and the RT-PCR was used to verify the presence of group (gp) A RVs. RVs were detected (by all methods) in 32 of 34 chicks from the flocks with RSS. By TEM (negative staining), RV particles were observed in intestinal contents of 28 chicks from the flocks with RSS. PAGE analysis showed four RV groups: gpA, gpD, gpF, and gpG. Group A RVs were detected in four chicks from two flocks with RSS, without intestinal lesions. GpD RVs were detected in 12 chicks of five flocks with RSS, 10 of them with severe villous atrophy. GpF RVs were confirmed in four chicks from three flocks with RSS and in two birds in the control flock. GpG RVs were verified in two chicks from two flocks with RSS, one with, and one without, intestinal lesions. At present, PCR methods are only available for detection of gpA RVs. Using RT-PCR, gpA RVs were identified in samples from 22 chicks including samples of two chicks from the control flock. Statistical analysis revealed a positive correlation between presence of gpD RV and severe villous atrophy in flocks with RSS. The results suggest that gpD RV plays a major role in the pathogenesis of RSS.

Blogging and RSS: A Librarian's Guide (Order your copy today!)

For those of you not coming to IL2006 the book is now available for ordering from both Informatin Today, Inc. and Amazon.com. (Buy it through Amazon and I get an extra cut as an associate.) Heck, at only $29.50, buy two and give one to a co-worker.

RSS2HTML

RSS2HTML is a very simple, menu driven way to republish RSS content in your site. However, there are not a lot of options and an iframe is the best way I could find to enbed the content within a page (as shown below).

RSSCalendar

Here's another RSS tool I'm playing with in preperation for IL2006: RSSCalendar.com. It allows you to enter calendar information and output several different RSS feeds and even republish to your site as shown below. The idea is amazing and I can see a lot of uses for it. Unfortunately, you can not import existing calendar information, you need to enter it manually. I guess if you're already entering it into your Web site, this wouldn't be any more work. But in a situation like mine, I don't want to have to enter an even into Outlook and RSSCalendar.
Thanks Karen!

Grazr

Here's another new RSS tool: Grazr. This allows you to embed an aggregator right into your Web page. What you're seeing here is the content of the OPML file I exported from my Bloglines account. This is one hell of a way to offer a feedroll.

Widgets.cc - RSS Scrollbox Widget

Here's a slightly different RSS Scrollbox Widget from Widgets.cc which moves vertically and allows you to pull in content from up to three feeds.

Widgetbox › Scrolling RSS News Ticker web widget

I'm working on my RSS pre-conference for IL2006 so I'm finiding a bunch of new RSS tools. Here's Widgetbox's Scrolling RSS News Ticker web widget.

Fall speaking schedule

• October 4-8: Idaho Library Association, Moscow, ID
  • Tech Terms
  • Firefox Search Plugins
• October 21-26: Internet Librarian 2006, Monterey, CA
  • 22: Integrating RSS Into Your Web Site (Pre-Conference)
  • 23: The Second Life Library 2.0: Going Where the Users Are
  • 24: Flickr & Libraries
  • 25: Book Signing (Information Today, Inc. booth)
• November 9-12: Colorado Association of Libraries, Denver, CO
  • 11: Tech Terms
• November 13-15: University of Nevada, Las Vegas Law Library, Las Vegas, NV
  • 14: Web Page Creation Basics (XHTML)
  • 15: Introduction to CSS
• November 26-December 1: Nevada State Library Gates Workshops
  • 27: Computer Security (Salt Lake City)
  • 27: Setting up a WiFi Netowrk (Salt Lake City)
  • 28: Technical Support in Your Library (Salt Lake City)
  • 30: Computer Security (Moab)
  • 30: Setting up a WiFi Netowrk (Moab)
  • 01: Technical Support in Your Library (Moab)
• December 5-8: Iowa City Public Library
  • 6: Blogs (BCR Workshop)
  • 6: RSS (BCR Workshop)
  • 7: Podcasting 101 (BCR Workshop)
  • 7: Wikis (BCR Workshop)
  • 8: The Social Web (Staff in-service day)

Book signing @ IL2006

Information Today, Inc. has asked me to do a book signing session for Blogging and RSS: A Librarian's Handbook at Internet Librarian! It's currently scheduled to happen in the Information Today, Inc. booth on Wednesday, October 25 from 12:15 to 1:45. Come by and say hi. Book purchase not required but strongly encouraged.

Podcast icons

I once surfed for RSS icons and found more than 20 different ones regularaly used. Noticing that iTunes started using a new icon to represent podcasts I decided to take a look for those this time around. Here's seven. There were others but they were mostly variations on the ones reprinted here. So, what do you think? Which do you feel should be the standard?

Blogs & RSS book update

Just got the following e-mail from my editor at Information Today. (Names obscured to protect the guilty.)

Actually, the book is shipping to the indexer tomorrow, which means it should be heading to the printer in about 3 weeks. That means were looking at publication during the last week of October/first week of November.

Also, just to let you know, we received some great blurbs from SA, BD, and SJ-S that we'll be using on the cover and in marketing materials.

Amazon RSS

Amazon RSS
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

I went to the Amazon.com homepage this evening and what do I find? An RSS feed for my plog. (O.k. I hate that they call it a "plog" but the fact that I can get it as an RSS feed suddenly makes me much more likely to read its content.)

LibraryThing & Your Library (Update)

After the LibraryThing blog pointed out that their blog widget (previously unknown to those involved) would be a better solution than running their RSS through FeedRoll, the Shenandoah Public Library site is now using said widget. This now allows them to show cover images and limit to particular tags should the need arise. (Similar use of the widget are forthcoming on the Creston Public Library and the Southwestern Community College LRC sites.)

See, all you need is a good idea and the right person to be passionate about it and things do start to happen.

Your library and LibraryThing

Shenandoah Public Library
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

The Shenandoah Public Library (Shenandoah, IA) now has a LibraryThing account. Using their account's recently-added books RSS feed and FeedRoll, they're publishing a list of thier new books on the library's home page. They've only added two books to their account so far, but you've got to start somewhere.

This is the result of Karen's hard work and enthusiasam.

How to keep users from subscribing to your feed

In my RSS workshop I explain to my students that there are multiple versions of RSS available for them to use, never mind that fact that there's also ATOM which everyone lumps in with RSS since it accomplishes the same exact thing but with a built in stylesheet. I make the case that you use ATOM if your blog is created with Blogger because that's what Blogger generates. If you're podcasting, use RSS 2.0 since it supports the required <enclosure> element. Beyond that, don't worry about which version the software you're using generates since it doesn't matter to the user as long as it's working. So, why of why, would a site offer multiple links to their feed and specify which language and version each link goes to?

Take the image in this post as a perfect example. I was surfing through the SciFi.com Tech blog and noticed that they offer four versions of their feed. One is ATOM, two are RSS (versions 1.0 and 2.0) and the fourth is "RSD" which, to be honest, I've never heard of before? (According to Wikipedia it's "Really Simple Discovery" which I've now read about and still don't understand. Anyone want to help me on this one?)

I subscribe to over 300 feeds, teach people how to use and create feeds, and wrote a book on the subject and I'm not sure which one I should choose... O.k. I generally default to the highest number available in situation such as these, therefore I'd choose the RSS 2.0 version, but I'll be damned if I could explain exactly why should someone ask me.

As it is there's a move afoot to stop using the terms RSS and ATOM when it comes to presenting this technology to users (look at IE7 and you'll see what I'm talking about, the word RSS doesn't appear anywhere,) and just stick to the term "feed". KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid. Take a look at your blog/site. Are you offering more than one version of the exact same feed? If so, I'd strongly suggest you think about getting rid of all but one of them. Your users will thank you.

Using LibraryThing in your library

Here's an idea that Karen Burns of SWILSA just pointed me to. Somehow I'd not thought of this myself. I love this idea and will be posting links to her libraries that get it up and running.

"I'm sure this is old hat to you but I've just stumbled onto the idea of using the RSS feed for recently added titles on LibraryThing to put a library's new titles on their website. (I kind of like Feedroll's javascript generator...) Do you know of any libraries that are doing this already? (I've got one here in SW Iowa ready to dive into it, and I'm sure I'll have a second and maybe a third and fourth by the end of the day...)"

UPDATE: Karen would like me to make it clear that she got the idea elsewhere.

Podcasts I listen to part 1: @ the office

I've been asked, so for those interested, here's a list of podcasts I listen to at the office.)

• 43 Folders
• APM: Future Tense
• Blogging (GigaVox Media)
• commandN
• CTBL News (Colorado Talking Book Library)
• Diggnation
• Inside the Net
• JupiterResearch Conversations
• Law (GigaVox Media)
• OpenStacks
• RSS (GigaVox Media)
• Security (GigaVox Media)
• Security Now!
• SirsiDynix InstituteT
• Talking with Talis
• The Future of Music
• this WEEK in TECH

Blogger Beta

In having my students create their first blogs today using Blogger, one of them managed to create an account in the new "Beta" version of Blogger. It look different and works a bit differently too. (I did notice that "password protected" blogs is one of the new features.) You can use it but not with an existing account. To play with it you'll need to sign up for a new Google Account.

The down side to all this is that my Blogs & RSS book is slated to come out in October. Knowing my luck, this beta version will become the liver version just about the same time thus making all my screenshots and instructions out of date and inaccurate.

Filters

Most of my long-time readers will be familiar with my opinion of filters. Well, for the past two days I've been teaching workshops in a computer lab for a local school district. Being a school lab, I was subject to the district's filtering system. Luckily, I was given the password to get around it, which worked most of the time, but the level of filtering astounded me. I was teaching blogging and RSS and Blogger was blocked. So was Flickr. (This made showing my blog interesting as the text would appear but the images, hosted on Flickr, would not be loaded.) Even my e-mail was blocked since lishost.org was considered a blockable "forum" which not even my use of the secret password would let me get through the filter. whatsmyipaddress.com was blocked, yet whatismyipaddress.com was not. (Go figure.) As one librarian said at lunch today, "let's teach highway safety buy closing the highways".

Librarians vs. City Information Service

Denver's Westword newspaper had a question about the new smoking ban in Denver. So, they logged onto AskColorado, the state-wide virtual reference serivice, and Denver's new 311 information service. Guess who won?

Wikipedia does RSS!

Finally, you can get RSS notification of changes to Wikipedia articles! Find it in the toolbox on the left of any article history page.
Via LibrarianInBlack

Writing updates

I've just faxed in the copyright form for my article "A User's View of eFlicks from the Denver Public Library" to be published in a month or two in Public Libraries Magazine. This will be my first ALA publication. I've also just boxed up and shipped the first proof of Blogging & RSS: A Librarian's Guide complete with my edits and revised screenshots. This means that the book should be out in just a few more months.

Why Blog Post Frequency Does Not Matter Anymore

Post frequency is something I've been thinking about for a while now and it looks like the Marketing Profs Daily Fix Blog has taken the topic on. The central point, as long as your posts are good, and you have an RSS feed, posting to your blog often isn't as important as it used to be. Opinions?

What's it like writing a book?

Merlin's (of the 43 Folders blog) latest podcast is about writing a book. The best part:

"Writing a book in three months... is kind of like doing rectal surgery on yourself in the middle of a traffic jam while it's raining frogs."

Considering that this week I'm actively writing my searching book and working on the first galley of my Bloggins & RSS book, I can relate all too well.

The Colorado Talking Book Library does RSS

Alex from the Colorado Talking Book Library attended my RSS workshop last week and became inspired. With a few additional e-mails and phone calls, he has successfully created a feed announcing their newsletters and a podcast of the newsletter's audio version. Now he's looking for content to distribute that comes out more often than quarterly.

Smoking DOPA

Here we go again... H.R. 5319: Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006 is meant to "amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require recipients of universal service support for schools and libraries to protect minors from commercial social networking websites and chat rooms." Yep, Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick [R-PA] and others feel that schools and libraries shouldn't allow kids access to blogs, MySpace, Friendster, wikis, and e-mail. Good grief!

The above link is to GovTrack which will allow you to receive bill updates via RSS. (Way cool!) There's also a wiki dedicated to this bill.
via Travels with the State Librarian

Internet Librarian 2006

The official information about the conference is now available on the InfoToday site. Here's what I'm doing:

Sunday, October 22nd
Workshop 19 — Integrating RSS into Your Web Site
1:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Michael Sauers, Internet Trainer, BCR
RSS feeds are an excellent way to receive information from the Internet today. What many people don’t know is that you can receive that information and easily repurpose and republish it on your Web site with little technical know-how. Imagine automatically posting up-to-date local or industry headlines on your library’s home page. This is what you can do in just a few simple steps. Our expert Internet trainer shows you how to do just this. This workshop also covers additional RSS tools and services, including one that will create feeds from content without its own feed and another that will turn your text-based content into a podcast automatically.

Monday, October 23rd
Session C105 — The Second Life Library 2.0: Going to Where the Users Are
3:15 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Lori Bell, Director of Innoation, Alliance Library System
Tom Peters, CEO, TAP Information Services
Michael Sauers, Internet Trainer, BCR
In April 2006, the Alliance Library System put out a call for librarians interested in participating in a project to set up a library presence in the virtualreality world of Second Life. By the end of the month, more than two dozen librarians from around the world were meeting at a brand-new virtual library to staff the reference desk and discuss collection development, online programming, and library services. Since then, the response has only grown, and Second Life citizens are taking advantage of all the library has to offer. Our speakers provide an overview of Second Life, the creation of the library, and the services that are now being offered in this completely virtual environment.

Tuesday, Octboer 24th
Session D203 — Flickr & Libraries
1:15 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Michael Porter, OCLC Western
Fiona Hooten, National Library of Australia
Lluisa Nunez, Universitat de Barcelona
Michael Sauers, BCR
Flickr is a treasure-trove for library professionals interested in community, connections, innovative software applications, and marketing. With a strong library-centric focus, this session starts with a brief look at libraries and librarians with Flickr accounts and then explores the largest and most active library/librarian photo group on the Internet, the Flickr “Libraries and Librarians” group with more than 550 members on six continents and 2,600 images. Entertaining recorded stories share observations and comments from speakers on other continents, including how participation turned into a partnership that created a mashup between Google maps and images in the Libraries and Librarians Flickr Group. A dynamic demonstration of third-party Flickr applications using Open API/Ajax, as well as tips and tricks, round out the program. This is the ultimate library professional’s Flickr guide.

RSS @ DPL

Speaking of the Denver Public Library, they're offfering several RSS feeds. Topics included are Current Job Openings, Latest DPL News, DPL Newsletters, Staff Recommendations, and New and Updated Web Content.

Wi-Fi at the library, for a price

The Cincinnati Business Courier reported today that all 41 branches of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County now have wi-fi for the public. Normally, that would cause me to blog a big hooray. Alas, this is not to be one of those posts. The article isn't very long but here's the relevant bit:

"Subscribers to Cincinnati Bell's Fuse dial-up service or ZoomTown high-speed Internet service can access wi-fi service for free in any library branch. For non-subscribers, the service is available on a pay-per-use basis of $4.95 an hour, or $9.95 for 24 hours, and can be billed to a credit card."

In other words, this is the first I've heard of a library offering wi-fi access for a fee. It sounds like they basically allowed the local ISP (phone company) to install the equipment and sell the service in the library a la Starbucks and Borders. This news does not make me happy. From my experience, libraries have loved offering free wi-fi for the reduction of wear and tear on the library's equipment, among many other reasons.

According to Kimber Fender, library executive director. "For those without computers and wireless access, the library provides free Internet access at all locations."

I'm sorry, but this makes no sense to me at all. Please, use our equipment for free but if you want to you your own equipment please pony up some cash to the local baby bell. That's one hell of public service policy.

I pretty much refuse to pay for wi-fi access but have been known to on occasion when very desperate. I've mostly been able to get away with this as more and more public libraries offer wi-fi access. That doesn't seem to be the case in Cincinnati.
via Wi-Fi Net News

More IL2006 News

I just received the following e-mail from the conference's program chair:

Hurray! I was able to include your Integrating RSS workshop into the schedule on Sun afternoon, Oct 22nd.

This is spectacular news. I'm now on the program for a half-session on Flickr, a full session on the Second Life Library, and a three-hour pre-conference on RSS. (This is a repeat of my RSS post-conference at CIL back in March. Updated to the latest tools & resources of course.) As soon as the preliminary program is released I'll be sure to post all of the official information.

Found RSS Feeds

I started another series of online RSS workshops today and the first homework assignment is to find five feeds that the student is interested in. Here are the results. (All of the students are in Wyoming so the information might be a bit Wyoming-centric.) I'll post more as the come in.

1. University of Wyoming Headline News
2. NOAA's NWS RSS Library
3. News from www.casperstartribune.net
4. Wyoming State Library
5. President George W. Bush's featured speeches and remarks (Podcast)
6. nHumanities
7. USA Today.com--Top Headlines
8. Library Journal: Features
9. Billings Gazette-Wyoming headlines
10. Librarians Internet Index - New This Week
11. E! Online Latest News
12. NPR Topics: News
13. Wayne Besen - Daily Commentary
14. MSNBC.com: U.S. News
15. Public Relations and Publicity Blog
16. TheDevnerChannel.com - Irresistible Headlines
17. The Weather Channel - Your Local Weather - Laramie, WY
18. Pollstar news
19. American Idol Recaps Feed
20. Library Marketing - Thinking Outside the Book
21. Library Link of the Day
22. Lisjobs.com
23. New York Times Book Review
24. PBS Now
25. ACLU.org Free Speech Action alerts
26. Quote of the Day
27. PC World Latest News
28. NPR Talk of the Nation
29. NPR Books
30. Beyond Best sellers (Madison Public Library)
31. Google Scholar
32. Universe Today
33. Discovery
34. New York Times
35. The Write News
36. Military RSS Feeds (directory)
37. BCR: The Third Indicator
38. BCR: Continuing Education
39. Wyoming State Library News
40. SI.com - NFL
41. SmartMoney Trends in Investing, Saving and Personal Finance
42. Word of Mouth Marketing
43. NYT: Thomas L. Friedman's Column
44. Library Marketing-Thinking Outside the Book
45. Stephen's Lighthouse
46. Salon
47. Texas RV Travel : USAer Blog
48. Tribe.net: Camping
49. Alum Creek
50. Carla Nayland Historical Fiction
51. Yahoo! News: Top Stories
52. NYT > Art and Design
53. News from www.codyenterprise.com
54. washingtonpost.com - Military News
55. RSS Feeds at the Minneapolis Public Library (directory)
56. Buzz Design
57. World Cafe from WXPN
58. Casper Star Tribune: Latest news
59. Science@NASA
60. Cosmetic Surgery
61. New York Review of Books
62. Reader2 - new books
63. Girl Genius Online
64. PCWorld.com - Latest News Stories
65. PC World's Techlog
66. GameSpy PC

So 1.0

A co-worker of mine is currently attending classes toward her MLS. This morning I asked her how one of her classes was going. (One I'd audited previously.) She mentioned that it was fun, especially the fact that they had to keep a "journal" of their thoughts about the topics of the week. "A blog?" I asked. Nope, a handwritten journal. Now, I'm not against journaling, electronic or otherwise, but this is the "next generation" of librarians and they're not using the technology. She quickly responded that she'd rather have it written down as it's more private. Well, blogs can be private. Put them behind a password (o.k., not possible via Bloglines unless you've got your own server to publish to,) and/or just don't give out the URL. Besides, being an instructor myself, I'd definitely want the journals to be blogs. That way I could subscribe to my students' RSS feeds and receive their journal assignments instantly without having all that paper to carry around. And, instructor responses to the posts could be sent back to the student via the blog's commenting feature.

Podcasting?

Back in January I wrote a post titled When is a Podcast not a Podcast in which I agreed with Greg Schwartz regarding folks using the term "podcast" when they're talking about linking to MP3 files on Web sites. In other words, complaining that people are misusing the term. To clarify, here's the basic definition of podcasting from Wikipedia:

"Podcasting is the method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio programs or music videos, over the Internet for playback on mobile devices and personal computers. The distribution format of a podcast uses either the RSS or Atom syndication formats... Podcasters' web sites may also offer direct download or streaming of their files, however a podcast is distinguished by its ability to be automatically downloaded automatically using software capable of reading RSS or Atom feeds."

What brings me to mention this is two recent posts, one from Library Stuff and another from Travels with the State Librarian. In the first case, Steven points out that the links for the MP3 versions of the SirsiDynix Institute recordings are not podcasts and I completely agree. The second case is a little more complicated.

Christie, the state librarian of Kansas has posted her first podcast using AudioBlogger.com a free service that allows you to post audio files to your blog via your telephone. Just call the number, enter your PIN, and record your message. Minutes later a link to an MP3 version of your recording will appear as a post on your blog. Even I, in the past have called this a "quick and dirty podcast". However, giving it some more thought, and looking back at the definition of podcast, I'm forced to change my mind. This is not a podcast. Here's why.

In the case of AudioBlogger, even if you have an RSS feed for your blog's content, the MP3 file itself is not being distributed via that feed, nor can it be automatically downloaded. All that's being syndicated via the feed is a link to a MP3 file that you must manually download. For these reasons, linking to an MP3 file, regardless of the method of announcing such a link is not a podcast.

Now that I've argued the semantics I wonder if I should bother. Language changes and terms get applied differently as more people use them. Technically, you don't "go" to a Web page, the page is sent to you. However, that doesn't mean I never say "go to this or that Web page". Should I care this much about how the term podcast is being applied? Should any of us?

Tag Cloud Your Blog (Feed)

tagCould.com is a new service that allows you to create exactly that, a tag cloud, from a single or combination of multiple RSS feeds. The generated tag cloud links back to the applicable posts and embeddable in your blog. So, thinking that I'd like a tag cloud on my blog I figured I'd try it out.

I signed up for my free account and entered the URL for my blog's feed. Within seconds I had the following result:

I was able to modify the results by picking the number of tags I wanted displayed. (Between 1 and 250.) All of this seemed to work as advertised but you may notice that I've not embedded it in the blog. That's because I clicked on several of the tags and received some odd results. Here's the result for "librarians" a word I user regularly in my blog.

(Click on the image if you need a larger version.)

The problem is that the most recent "result" that I can link to is from 134 days ago! I was unable to find a link to any post more recently than 130 days ago. Something's wrong here. I've read what instructions there are and I can't seem to fix the problem.

Has anyone else had any luck with this service? Is it me? Is it the system? If someone can show me how to make it work and cover recent posts, I'll probably use it.
via RSS4Lib

Doctor Who Series 2 Podcast

Doctor Who Series 2 Podcast Image
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

Unless you've been living under a rock (or just don't care,) series two of Doctor Who started this past Saturday in the UK. (Yes, you can find it on BitTorrent.) The news of additional coolness is that Mr. Davies is producing a podcast of episode commentaries. You can find it via iTunes (just search on "Doctor Who") of, for those of you that are iTunes-less, the URL for the feed is http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/rss/2006_commentaries.xml.

Three More Years!

It looks like Kiefer Sutherland has agreed to do three more seasons of 24. Yippie!

Presentations (CIL2006)

My presentations page has been updated to include three recent PPT files including my CIL post-conference on RSS.

LibraryThing

LibraryThing import
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

After talking about LibraryThing to a few people at CIL, I decided to take the plunge and get the lifetime membership. I've just set it to the task of importing the list of my books that have ISBNs. (I've got an Access database of my complete fiction collection.) The import list is 2,963 books long. I guess I'm doing my part to add to the LibraryThing database. (Just to put this in perspective, as crazy as that perspective is, my import list does not include my non-fiction, nor the aproximately 1000 books that are old enough to not have ISBNs.) You can access my catalog at http://www.librarything.com/catalog/travelinlibrarian where an RSS feed is also available.

CIL2006: RSS Post-Conference

Goor morning everyone. Thanks for attending and lasting 'till day four of the conference.

CIL 2006: Training for Staff & Patrons in Public libraries

Janie Hassard Hermann, Technology Instruction Librarianm Princeton Public Library
Travis Bussler, Network Administrator, Chippewa River Library District

Janie: Technolog Training for Library Cusomters

• Reaching & Teaching a Tech-savy public
• library customers are becoming increasing proficient with computers/internet/technology
• tech & training expectations are rising exponentially
• computer classes and technology training must evolve to meet this demand
• constant innovation to remain relevant is crucial
• Princeton PL
• single branch downtown near university
• WiFi
• 50FTE, pop 31,000
• 100+ computers for public
• 58k sqft building built in 2004
• Looking back
• 10 years since started doing comp training - basic computer & net classes
• emphasis on mouse skills & using OPAC
• subject specific classes, email, and MS Office classes soon added
• focus on basic computing and searching skills
• Looking forwad
• digital cameras, MP3 players, other gadgets
• "Gadget Garage"
• eAudiobook instruction and legal downloading
• Blogging, wikis, RSS, VoIP, & other trends
• lectures & demos that help community stay current with technology and relatd issues
• Instruction that is more individualized
• "open texh time"
• Someone on staff, in room, to answer any question
• 10 steps to creating a tech-savy training program It's a time consuming process, can take several years to build PPL's current program has been over five years in the making
• Start modest
• implement monthly programs that appeal to advanced users
• technology talks, "DataBytes"
• use invited guest to minimize staff prep time
• offer one or two advanced classes
• gather feedback
• Build a mailing list
• gather addresses at every session
• send more than one or two emails per month
• inform but don't spam
• Make a training plan
• comprehensiveness is curcial
• who will attend
• hoe many courses per month/week
• hoe many new courses per year
• Write lesson plans
• create a template
• borrow from others
• create support materials
• Sources
• WebJunction
• Learn the Net
• SeniorNet
• Train staff and Volunteers
• hire or recruit volunteer trainers to assist depending on budget considerations
• training the trainer is essential
• provide practice sessions before going live to work out glitches
• Decide Registration Proceedures
• register or not
• card holders or whole community
• how many students per class
• gadget classes need to be smaller than hands on comp classes
• Acquire the equipment & software
• funding
• purchase
• install
• Promote!
• print calendars
• email calendars
• press released
• library newsletter
• network w/ computer clubs
• e-mail lists
• front page of library Web site
• Feedback & Evaluation
• listen
• eval stats
• Update frequently
• stay current
• scan literature
• keep programs on cutting edge
• Don't forget
• compile stats
• demonstrate impact

Travis: How to Create a Tech-Savy Staff

• patrons expect more tech from libraries than ever before
• library staff needs to support this; IT, ref, circ, everyone else
• staff needs to at least know how to exit out of the progams on the public computers
• Why does the IT staff need a tech savy staff
• makes everyone's job easier
• to communicate effectively
• to offer the best support possible
• Problems in the beginning
• "network is down" = "the neopets web site is down"
• "the copier is broken" = "the copier is out of paper"
• What is needed?
• Assessments
• all staff members
• where are they now
• where do they need to be
• sell assessment for new employees
• What to assess
• OS
• office productivity
• hardware
• library web site
• items based on individual job functions
• automation system
• Training
• types
• in house
• workshops
• cd-rom
• online
• CC & Univ
• books
• what
• everything that's relevant
• tips
• make training mandatory
• short sessions
• similar skill level groups
• stay focused
• interactive as possible
• plenty of practice time
• repetition
• offer CEUs
• offer to other lib organizations
• let staff share experiences
• use variety of trainers & techniques
• let staff members being food & drinks
• Documentation
• items to document
• everything
• instructions
• faqs
• cheat cheets
• tips
• keep it simple
• use lots of pictures
• printed and electronic copies
• Conclusion
• assesments + training + deocumentation = tech-savy staff

CIL2006: Thursday Keynote

Planning for a Handheld Mobile Future
Megan Fox, Web Electronic Resources Librarian, Simmons College
9:00-9:45am

Note: This is the second time in a week that I've heard/read someone that "mobile" is the future. Sorry, but it's already here.

• Planning for is no longer an option, it's a necessity
• 1.4 billion in the world have mobile phones
• 62% of users use SMS
• 350 billion SMS messages per month world wide
• Devices
• PDAs
• Tablets
• iPods
• eBook readers
• Smart Watches
• Blackberry
• Smartphones
• Gaming Devices
• "PIN numbers" ARGH!
• eBook readers
• digital ink
• less than 9oz
• 80 books on internal memory
• Ultra Personal Computer
• OQO
• Vulcan Flipstart
• Looking to vertical markets instead of consumers
• Ultra Mobile PC
• Microsoft Oragami
• WinXP Tablet
• 7" or smaller display
• 400x800
• 60gb hard drive
• WiFi Bluetooth
• Touchpad program
• Appropriate for fingers
• customizable
• onscreen thumb-based keyboard
• New font: Cambria (Times New Roman replacement?)
• Mobile Optomized Web
• Web sites intended for large screens, busy, multimedia content
• Reduce content
• Remove graphics
• Word wrap
• Narrow
• Examples
  
• TV Guide
• Google, Personalized Google
• National Weather Service
• Conversion
• iyhi
• sqeezer
• google
• Might loose wanted content when using 3rd party conversion
• Can't translate flash
• Mobile Blue
• Flickr
• Mobiledelicious
• Native mobile content
• Splash Blog
• Moblog
• mob5
• hosted mobile web space
• Blogger on the go
• Top mobile content
• Weather
• Yahoo mail
• hotmail
• google
• ESPN
• Mapwuest
• CNN
• dining
• Traditional Library content
• opac (I do this with the Aurora Public Library)
• III: AirPac
  
• ebooks
• subscription content
• dictionaries
• encyclopedias
• Oxford American Dictionary
• PDAs
• Smartphones
• Look on Tucows for mobile content
• Handango
• 240+ reference titles for smartphones
• Handmark
• Tools toys for a mobile generation
• Cell phone downloads
• Mobile Genealogy (blog)
• Popular books
• Overdrive
• NetLibary
• ebrary
• Audible Air (Audible)
  
• download recordings
• Medical Health database vendors leading in mobile access to databases
• Point of need answers
• Yahoo! Go
• AOL Mobile
• Google Mobile
• Types
  
• Definitions
• phone numbers
• geographical information
• 4info
• SMS to 44636
• Searching shortcuts
• Medio
• "answers instead of lists of links"
• preferences, location, device to personalize results
• Answers.com mobile interface
• Have a librarians section
• "pre-research market"
• Don't want to step on librarian's toes
• gada.be
• mobile metasearch
• builds search into URL
• Search software packages being built into phones
• SMS-based search
  
• Google SMS (46645)
  
• send "shortcuts" to get list of commands
  
• Synfonic
• AskMeNow
• Yahoo! Go
• Voice messages
• Text alerts
• scheduled once or ongoing
• Reference IM
• Typically computer to computer
• Reference via SMS
• Altarama
• Converts SMS to e-mail
• Overdue notices
• Teleflip
• Free txt messages
• Cell#@teleflip.com
• RSS
• Talis, patron account data alerts
• LibraryElf
• Wake Forest, MobileU
• voice activated commands
• checking laundry in the dorm
  
• Montclair State U, Dawgtel
• Stephen King's Cell (I did this)
• Other services
• Feedalot
• Mobdex
• feedbeep
• litefeeds
• UpSnap
• search
• live mobile audio content
• sports
• faith
• magic 8 ball
• iPods
• circulating shuffles
• podcasts
• local tours
• ebooks
• subway maps
• spark notes for iPod
• Test prep
• iPods @ GCSU
• All audio reserves on every iPod
• storyhour
• instruction sessions
• Mobile video
• mostly due to video iPod
• "mobisodes" mobile episodes
• mobitv
• LocationFree TV
• Guide by cell
• Self guided tours via mobile phone
• For library staff
• Sirsi PocketCirc
• Check out from anywhere
• III's Wireless workstation
• 10 libraries currently using
• Glimpse of the future
• Shopping price comparrison
• Yahoo! Shopping (testing)
• Froogle (testing)
• Fandango
• movie times, reviews, buy online
• tickets sent to device w/ barcode
• barcode read off of phone
• e-version of Bonita Daily News
• Small version
• SMS alerts
• video highlights
• New business models
• free ebook reader w/ content membership
• ESPN phone
• mobot
• take pic, send in, get song
• mobile visual search
• Resources
• engadget
• imobile
• textually.org
• gizmodo
• mobileread.com
• gottabemobile.com
• web.simmons.edu/~fox/pda

CIL 2006: Day one wrap-up (the next morning)

I was able to roam the exhibits and talk to Miguel, the rep from Neal-Schuman and Amy, the editor at Informatio Today, Inc. currently working on my Blogs & RSS book. (According to her, it's scheduled to be released in October.) Between the evening conference reception and the speaker's reception I was able to find just about everyone I was looking for. The Dead & Emerging Technologies session was a fun as always. This year's theme, Library 2.0. Many a humorous 1.0/2.0 comparrison was made. Stephen Abram went long as usual but none of the attendees (with one or two execptions) complained about him going over time. (I will add that as much as I appreciated all of the speakers, seven of them was a few too many for the 1.5 hour allotted time.)

Next, the post-day gathering at the hotel lounge was as exciting, entertaining, and thought-provoking as usual. There I was finally able to meet both Lorcan Dempsy of OCLC, who's blog I've been admiring for a while now.

I endd up back at my room about midnight with a 6am wakeup. I've finished my venti caramel machiato form the starbucks down the street and I'm waiting at the tables near the exhibits for the press room to open for the day. (The blogger's WiFi is still not working down here. I was told that it had been fixed but I've yet to see it.) As soon as I get connected, I'll be posting this and uploading the rest of my photos from yesterday to flickr.

Admit it.

You knew this announcement was coming.

"Microsoft Corp. will delay the consumer release of its new Windows operating system until January 2007, missing the holiday sales season and throwing some PC makers and retailers into turmoil."

Feedo Style

I just discovered Feedo Style which allows you to republish RSS feed content on your Web site. (This is one of the topics I'm covering in my CIL post-conference but has not made it into the slides.)

RSS Screen Saver

The folks on the Microsoft RSS Team have released a beta of their RSS Platform Screen Saver. I've not yet had a chance to try it but it does look handy.

CIL2006 Presentation

CIL2006 Presentation
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

The slides for my post conference on RSS are finished and the file's been sent off to IT for photocopying. Yes, there are 199 slides but 90% of them are screenshots that the sttendees can take notes on while I'm projecting the live sites at the front of the room. Those interested in what my post conference is covering, check out all the CIL2006 items in my del.icio.us account.

Gadget lets authors sign books from afar

I will NEVER attend an event in which the author is using one of these!

RSS: I Get It

I've bought a new shirt to wear during my presentation at CIL. Check out the RSS: I Get It store at CafePress.

Import my subscriptions

For those interested, I've created an OPML file of my publicly subscribed RSS feeds which you can import into your aggregator. (Really, I created this as an exercise for my RSS workshop students.)

Computers in Libraries 2006

Yes, I will be attending CIL06 this year in Washington, DC (March 22-25). I'm ariving on Wednesday afternoon, attending the sessions on Thursday and Friday, presenting a post-conference workshop on Saturday morning and flying home Saturday evening. Here's the official description of my workshop:

Integrating RSS into Your Web Site
Saturday, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Michael Sauers, Internet Trainer, BCR
RSS feeds are an excellent way to receive information from the Internet today. What many people don't know is that you can receive that information and easily repurpose and republish it on your Web site with little technical knowhow. Imagine automatically posting up-to-date local or industry headlines on your library’s home page. This is what you can do in just a few simple steps. Our expert Internet trainer shows you how to do just this.

I'll also be covering some RSS basics including using an aggregator and creating RSS feeds using free tools along with other more advanced topics such as FeedBurner and Feed2Podcast.

For more information on what the workshop will cover check out my del.icio.us account under the cil06 tag. (A special thanks to Michael Stephens for helping me wrap my head around the workshop's topic.)

If you'll be attending (or not) be sure to check out Meredith's conference wiki. I'm also assuming the the flickr tag will be CIL2006 since last year it was CIL2005.

Bill makes a funny

Here's a clip of Bill Gates taking a "shot" at Dick Cheney.

Naughty, naughty Cascada in the library

LISNews has a link to a video by Cascada which takes place in a library. Why isn't any library I've ever worked in like this?

Digitizing the library

This video shows University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman explaining to the Association of American Publishers why her university is a partner with Google Print Library Project. (9 minutes 24 seconds, Feb 7, 2006 11:13:00 AM)

What should Jackson (Peter, not Michael) do next?

One person strongly suggests Doctor Who.

Microsoft Certificate Error

Microsoft Certificate Error
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

Will someone please explain to me why the IE Blog ( http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/Rss.aspx) even needs a certificate? (Never mind the fact that it's been certified by an "unknown authority".)

CIL06: Preliminary Program

The CIL'06 Preliminary Program is up and yes, my post conference on RSS is listed. However, due to some confusion, mostly on my part, the title/description listed is for my original short presentation proposal, not for a three hour post conference workshop. Here is the correct title/description.

RSS: The Power of Aggregation
Sometimes it seems that RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is all the library technologists are talking about. So, just what is RSS all about. As a user you can use an RSS aggregator to read many blogs in one central location. You can also get up-to-date information on new topics, search results, packages you’re tracking, or maybe even your library record. As a blog publisher, adding an RSS feed makes it easier for your readers to receive your information. As a Webmaster, you can harness RSS to republish information from around the Net. In this half-day workshop, you will learn the fundamentals of RSS technology, learn how to find and subscribe to RSS feeds using Bloglines.com, see different methods for creating RSS feeds for your information, and learn how to republish RSS feeds in your own Web site. (Attendees are expected to have familiarity with using the Web. A basic understanding of blogs and markup languages (HTML, XHTML and/or XML) will be helpful.)

Reading password protected feeds in Bloglines

There are certain circumstances in which you may want to put some username/password authentication on an RSS feed. Unfortunately, this will lock out those using Bloglines as it does not support authentication. There is a way around this. All you need to do is embed the username and password in the URL of the feed. So, if your URL is:

http://www.yadda.com/index.xml

and you need to login with:

username: steve
password: feedme123

The subscribe to the following URL:

http://steve:feedme123@www.yadda.com/index.xml

Bloglines will accept this revised URL and give you access to the feed. One word of warning however, this is a security hole. To minimize the problem, make sure you mark the feed as "private" in Bloglines so others may not read the URL and thereore the username/password information.