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
• sugge