Time for another victory report to this group. Here at CSU-Pueblo, we now have the following technologies in place;

• A Wiki--"CSU-Pueblo Library Project Management"
• A Blog--"CSU-Pueblo Library News and Events"
• Del.icio.us--"Librarians' Suggested Links" (it also appears as a widget in our blog)

We are in the process of configuring a Flickr addition -- "Tour the CSU-Pueblo Library"

We just finished training on the blog. When everyone was told that these tools could cut down on meetings, eyes lit up. 'By George! I think she's got it!'

I have to post this photo because it is symbolic of how much the Five Weeks class has been a part of my life:

My colleagues and students got used to this sign. The chats with the presenters were my favorite part of the class. I loved being able to tap into their vast knowledge. I find that Flickr and Wikis will be the most useful to me. Flickr will be a kind of photo journal for our library and wikis...well, I had no idea of how versatile they were. I am sold on wikis as content managers! The most unexpected outcome of all this is how much I know and how familiar I am with it all. I really didn't expect that. But, social software now is like a comfortable old shoe that fits nicely and something that I reach for as a solution. How cool is that??! I really cannot think of improvements to the course. Keep on doing what you are doing. Finally, I have come to appreciate the entire group, students and organizers, and anticipate the friendships that will emerge from this. Thank you!

Karen T. Pardue

Instructional Technology Librarian
Colorado State University-Pueblo

(The proposed wiki to be implemented at our institution is located on PBWiki at http://csuplibrary.pbwiki.com/.)

• The name of the technology I would like to implement.

I am proposing to implement a wiki to manage the Colorado State University-Pueblo Library’s projects.

• A brief description of this technology.

Wikis are open-source, content management systems that are wonderfully collaborative. A wiki can be a forum in which those library staff working together can ‘meet’ in one place to post and contribute information to a particular project or initiative. (see http://csuplibrary.pbwiki.com for more information).

• An explanation of the service I would like to create with the software. An explanation of how this service will fill a need at the CSU-Pueblo University Library, including benefits.

I will be creating a Project Management Wiki where those working on various committees and teams can post their schedules, information, and documents. I have already begun such an area in PBWiki that will house the names and schedules of the members of the Information Management and Information Literacy Teams as they work toward implementation of our 2007-2009 Library Strategic Plan in conjunction with the greater Colorado State University-Pueblo Strategic Plan. The team members and leaders will post guiding documents and team meeting minutes so all members of both teams may log on to this area to see at a glance what documents are being posted and download them, if needed, re-familiarize themselves with what was discussed during the meetings, and see what are each others’ schedules. The ability to create a PDF from each page constructed in the wiki will be particularly helpful if we anticipate not having temporary access to a computer but want to see the information posted on the page. We do not have any software at the Library that will offer this kind of virtual location where all these requirements can be met. Http://csuplibrary.pbwiki.com can do this. This service is intended to benefit the Library’s faculty and staff in their endeavor to complete projects.

• Evidence that this technology would be useful the CSU-Pueblo Library.

Wikis are “hits” within libraries and evidence shows they are being implemented in education on a daily basis, using them for staff and student training, classes, and as aids to staff projects and communication. Some articles and examples are:

I have to admit that I first opened a Flickr account when I saw how Steve Lawson used it at his institution, Colorado College. I was amazed at its versatility. For instance, we have a clunky "virtual tour" of our library on our library's website that was considered cutting edge four years ago. This will be replaced by a photo tour using Flickr. I love Flickr for my personal photos, too. I have private  photos of a house my family owned for about 12 years in Niagara Falls. They are extremely special to me because the house brings back to mind so many good times. Also, because the house had to be placed on the Historical Register to be restored properly (it was built before the Civil War), the photos have a historical quality to them and are irreplaceable.  I uploaded copies to Flickr,  applied the private setting to them, and now the whole family can enjoy them. It sure beats Kodak EasyShare! More about Flickr later.

Hi, Did anyone have trouble logging into OPAL this evening? I even tried logging on with another computer connected to a different ISP account with no results. I so looked forward to Steve Lawson's presentation. I did everything (delete cookies and files, log off and on, etc) and still could not get a logon page that requested a password--it just asked my user name. When I logged on with just my user name, I was the only one there the first time, the second time, 3 others were there and no moderators or audio, and subsequent times, just me again. Some slides on Second Life were there. Again, no people and no audio. Any thoughts?

I am ready to ditch my paper handouts after this week and begin a wiki. I have explored each wiki presented and I believe with our institution's Microsoft-dependent systems, I will begin with PMWiki. Not only will I use the wiki for classes, but they will be helpful for collaborative projects. Our library has just created two teams of librarians to address the strategic plan we intend to follow for the next few years. I head the Information Literacy Team and I can see a wiki being a tool for outlining goals and objectives while keeping track of our progress. I love the on-the-fly editing and see that feature as the most valuable.

I receive and read copious amounts of computer and web developer magazines and journals. Bad side, very expensive. Good side, I learn not only what I should be paying attention to for my job but what is being discussed in editorial circles. The March 2007 (Vol. 26 No. 5) issue of PC Magazine includes an article by Aaron Dalton, freelance writer, entitled, "All Typed Out." Dalton explores what seems to be a decline of blogging. Ward cites information from Technorati which estimates 63.2 million active blogs in existence with over half "abandoned" within three months. Furthermore, research firm, Gartner, estimates "the total number of dead, abandoned blogs at more than 200 million" (p. 17). The firm believes that while some blogs are interesting and relevant, many are not. Bloggers may have run out of things to say... or not. Dalton included in his article others' opinions as to the state of blogging. Car.com senior editor, David Thomas, believes the popularity of blogs is not lost on large businesses (see Blogging 101 from the first week of the course) and corporations like Microsoft. Dalton agrees with Thomas, stating, "Look for more corporations to use blogs as part of their branding and communication efforts, [essentially], more commercial, more professional, and more about money (p. 18).

I decided to name the post for Week 2 after the widget I have on the library blog that displays the contents of our del.icio.us account. I used to be a bit shy of del.icio.us, I think, because of its tagging feature. I had anxious visions of my first LOC cataloging class while my library colleagues chatted about del.icio.us tags. As I began working with del.icio.us and tagging, I just listed the most common tags I could think of. Now, I want to go back and add tags that truly reflect how I use the content and how I want to content to be used. In other words, I want tags that are well thought out. So, it is back to the drawing board to discern how I can best identify the increasing list of links and resources in our Librarians' Suggest Sites del.icio.us account.

I came into this course knowing a little about each technology we would be covering. I knew the most about blogging, but I had difficulties envisioning its uses and how to maintain and "sell" it. I find it interesting that the simple exposure to others talking about and doing blogging has cleared up these issues surprisingly fast. Experiential learning was always my style. Hats off to the Five Weeks organizers for providing this learning environment for aspiring social net-workers! However, since I really should pin down those things that I specifically learned, I will attempt to identify what points were the most meaningful to me. If one does not want to be saddled with the entire responsibility of posting and maintaining the blog, staff should be enlisted to help. And, to that end, staff training is critical as unfamiliarity with blogs in all its technical aspects can be daunting and repellent to staff who have never been exposed to this social software. Happily, we have already begun staff training here at the CSU-Pueblo Library so all may participate in our blog.

Hi,

Has anyone seen this UTube video? It is very well done and graphically illustrates the Web 2.0 "revolution."

Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE

Karen Pardue