When Sun and Moon Ruled the Land Audio Story

http://www.switchpod.com/users/ltscils598s09/sunandmoon.mp3

Benefits/Detractions of Podcasts

It seems "podcasting" has become the new form of story telling for elementary school students.  This is true (or partially true) in my school anyway.  The reason I added the word "partial" is because through our class I have learned that a podcast is not truly a podcast unless it is a mp3 file attached to an rss feed.  The students in my school seem to be making an audio that is stored on the web, but not necessarily attached to a rss feed.

The benefits of "podcasting" as my students know it lies in inspiration.  The kids just cannot wait to use any type of technology.  The promise of using the laptop to produce a "podcast" inspires the students to research the topic and use writing skills to create the script.  Even the aspect of recording their own voices has some positive affects.  Students strive for better enunciation and grammar so they can sound their very best.

The main detraction from podcasting is in it's pure audio nature.  It seems there is a greater percentage of visual over audio learners.  Visual learners are disadvantaged and at times may lose their train of thought or understanding.  This can be very detrimental if audio is the only source of learning for a particular topic. 

Comment on Audio Story - When Sun Ruled the Land

I posted an audio version of the Cuban legend When Sun Ruled the Land. This story is retold by Janet Palazzo-Craig, and seeks to explain something that happens in nature. This story explains how day and night came to be and how the first eclipse took place. It also has shades of a biblical beginning with a parallel to how man and woman were first made.

I came across this story when putting together a unit for folktales, fairytales and legends for my elementary students. However, adults may find that a story such as this runs deeper and allows for more discussion and/or debate in an older population!

Educational Experience

My MLIS experience at Rutgers has been an eventful one!  It's been a bit unusual (at least to me) since never expected to return to a university program after completing an undergrad and grad program, working and raising a family.  It's just something I didn't think a lot of people did, but surprisingly, through this program I have met all kinds of people from all walks of life.  It's been a fabulous experience!

This week's work with flickr has been extremely practical.  Part of the reason I was drawn to the world of library was because of organization.  Use of flickr allows for organization of a person's life through their photos without those old burdensome negatives and photo albums (of which I have many and running out of storage room!).

Click on this link for photos from ltscils598-eduexperience

Click on this link for photos from scils58s09-edexperience

RU Spirit

From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ltscils598s09/3353744323/

Browser and Connection Speed

Viewing google analytics is a little "tricky," but I think once a person gets comfortable with all the data, there's some great info to be found.

I was able to find that the most common browser used to access the blog was Safari with 62.5%.  This was followed by Internet Explorer at 20%, and lastly, 17.5% using Firefox.  I actually thought this was interesting since I incorrectly assumed most users were accessing via Firefox and Internet Explorer.  When I use my school laptop (a Mac), I tend to use Safari, although I can use Firefox as well.  When using my home laptop (a Dell), I use Internet Explorer.

With regard to connection speed, cable was at 65%.  This far surpassed "unknown" connections with 17.5%, DSL at 15% and T1 at 2.5%.  This data did not surprise me since I think most users these days favor the cable connection.

Libraries and the Long Tail

Based on Chris Anderson's long tail concept, it seems to me that it is difficult for the average public library to take advantage of this area.  More so than ever, in today's economic time, libraries are working with reduced funding.  Reduced funding means a lessened ability to offer patrons titles that are "off the beaten path."  There are still ways public libraries can attempt to meet patron needs (ILL is an example), but even with these systems in place it's not always possible.  Reduced funding makes little possible.

Companies like Amazon, eBay, and other online sources, are better positioned to reap the benefits of the long tail effect since there is essentially no physical location to speak of.  The library will always be a physical space despite the added ability to access ebooks on utilize online databases and resources.

The best that public libraries can hope for in term of meeting patron needs (and trying to ride that long tail) is a strong member consortium where resources can be shared.  

PB Wiki vs. Wetpaint

Because of our course wiki, many of us have developed a certain comfort level with PB Wiki. Having very limited prior experience with wikis and none with PB Wiki at all, my learning was predominately a result of trial and error.  The sidebar served as a nice "table of contents" for the user, and it easy to navigate between the pre-made pages.  Setting up our individual pages was a little challenging due to inexperience, but in the end, I managed to set it up with relative ease.

When exploring Wetpaint, I was pleasantly surprised with the vodcast explaining how a wiki can be effectively used.  Wetpaint had great "screen bubbles" giving helpful hints and explanations of the various tabs.  The "top 10 tips" gave helpful hints, and the left hand side sidebar displayed options such as add a page, recent site activity, and top contributors.

The option to select the wiki template allowed for personalization.  It does not appear this option is available to PB Wiki users.  However, a downside to Wetpaint were the ads; PB Wiki has a cleaner look since there are no ads.

The Long Tail in the Library

It's a hard call  ... will the library world benefit from Chris Anderson's Long Tail theory?  In some ways, one can argue "yes."  With more and more ebooks becoming available at the public libraries, patrons can download audio formats of their favorite books.  Databases and other online sources absolutely make researching subject matter efficient while saving space.  Library web pages touting reader's advisory service ("if you like this, you should try this ...") and book blogs help to introduce patrons to material they might not have considered.  Physical space is less of an issue than it used to be.  Free or minimal cost to read, view and use materials is at an all time high.  All of this should translate into benefits to the library world.

On the other hand, every public library in town has visions of emulating the local Barnes & Noble with the coffee bar and all!  This takes us back to the old method of browsing and physically handling the merchandise that we may or may not consume (although it sure appears there's massive consumption of those lattes!).  The inventory takes space, and best sellers that are not marketed appropriately may be found on the clearance displays so the company can break even.  After all, why buy a book when you are invited to sit and read it while enjoying a cup of coffee?

While it looks like the library world COULD benefit from Anderson's ideaology, our economy and budgetary constraints of municipalities may weaken the possibilities.  Underfunded libraries will be unable to purchase the materials patrons want, and the domino effect will begin.

Working Google Docs & Spresent

Amazing ... google docs and spresent certainly have some strong implications for online or on-campus learning!  From the beginning, educators have valued collaborative work amongst students.  It's a great strategy for all age levels as long as each individual does his or her part.

Google docs allows group members to contribute and work on one document without having to coordinate physical location.  While this connects online students across the nation, it also helps on-campus students who are running to work and other classes to reap the benefits of teamwork.  Project creation and the ability to work around individual time frames would be much easier.

From an individual standpoint, creating a document on google docs allows someone to maximize their efforts anywhere they can gain internet access.  No longer does one have to worry about carrying around a file, flashdrive or laptop in order to remain productive.  The document saved on the web may be accessed and updated anywhere.  Another great feature is that there is only one copy, which eliminates any confusion as to which copy is most current.  

Online students who are aware of the benefits will be most accepting of this new method of project creation.   Since online students need to have a certain level of comfort using technology, the ability and acceptance to branch into this new arena is likely.  On-campus students are able to reap the same benefits, but depending on their level of comfort with new technology and individual time constraints to physically meet, acceptance may be less likely.  

Acceptance of a collaborative method as google docs would be more likely accepted by online faculty over on-campus faculty for the same reasons named for online versus on-campus students.

One major downside of google docs may be the inability or limited ability to track participation of group members (as compared to a wiki).  However, this is no different than a group project prepared "the old fashioned way" with group members meeting and one person inputing all the data into a collaborative paper.

Ramifications for the use of spresent would be similar.  Group members using this would be able to create one presentation while working from their own computer.  Group members are able to find and attach web based videos to different parts of the presentation. 

Virtual Introduction via Delicious

Delicious is one of the few accounts that I actually had before taking this course so luckily I was familiar with it's general purpose and how to navigate within it.  Just taking a "peek" at our scils598s09 collection of bookmarks, made me feel overwhelmed!  We have created and linked some great things, and when looking closely at the individual links, the viewer definitely sees a bit of commonality and some individualism in terms of our interests and personalities.

While we have collected some great "stuff," I have to wonder if it is wise to shock a novice social software student with this collection.  Through the last weeks, we have taken one step at a time and have learned how to connect all the pieces of our journey thus far.  We can appreciate this massive collection of bookmarks, because we participated in building it.

Bottom line, the idea of using Delicious as an introduction/meet and greet for new students is a good one depending on the knowledge level of the students.  I think a course like this, where we come with varied levels of experience may not be the right forum for this type of virtual introduction.  However, it would be great for an intermediate or advanced social software course.

Delicious vs. Furl

To Delicious or Furl ... that is the question!  Both Delicious and Furl appeared to offer similar services in regard to social bookmarking, tagging, descriptions, and ability to install a button onto the browser bar.  The "look" of the Furl page was visually appealing, but I was still more comfortable with Delicious primarily due to often usage.   

Upon further investigation, I found that the Furl site allows users to rate a bookmarked website using a star system.  Another great feature is that Furl saves the cache copy of a website even if a site is taken off the web.  

Despite these nice features, I still prefer Delicious.  I like the way "my bookmarks" is prominently displayed and simple to access, but beyond that, I have developed a comfort level with Delicious that I don't think I would develop with Furl even after repeated usage.  I don't have any data to support this, but my guess is that Delicious is preferred amongst the general population of social bookmarkers.  If that is the case, I would expect Delicious to be a better source to find bookmarked websites.

 

Digg

The Digg website reminded me of American Idol where viewers can vote candidates on or off the show! I say this because based on my exploration, Digg appears to be a site for the people and by the people. Viewers post and share sites they find interesting, and viewers can either "vote" to "share" or "bury" the site depending on what their opinion. Therefore, the better sites which get the better votes will be pushed to the top of the list. Whereas, the sites that are not favored can be buried and put at the bottom of the list.

The website is divided ino various sections which will list viewer posted sites on technology, world and business, science, gaming, lifestyle, entertainment, sports and an area known as "offbeat." While viewers may access websites, viewers may also access videos, images, and news.

Digg appears to be a reflection of popular culture and is one example of how the internet has connected people from all over.