1) How well does this course meet your expectations / learning objectives?
I feel the course was far more intense than I had anticipated, however I think that on reflection the learning objectives have all been met.
2) What are the difficulties encountered in accessing the course materials on the Internet at your workplace which have NOT been reported before?
I did meet a few problems accessing some of the course material and that was due to the way in which the trust categorize/block certain sites.
3) Did you need to seek the permission of your trust IT before you accessed certain course materials on the Internet?
No, although I did have to ask them to unblock some individual pieces of course material so that I could access them
4) Do the readings meet the learning objectives of each topic?
Yes
5) What is the average amount of time you spent on the course each day?
I tried to look at the course each day but on the whole I used longer session on a weekly basis. Free time was not easy to find during work hours so I had to catch up during evenings and weekends.
6) How do you find the interaction among participants of the course?
Not easy due to time constraints and I do no think the nature of the work calling for group participation was really appropriate
7) Will you continue blogging and/or reading RSS after the course?
I hope to
Action planning for the next 3 months:
Objectives 1
Introduce a library blog
Targets
Promote library services
encourage feedback from all library
users
Deadlines
December 2007
Objective 2
Introduce RSS feeds
Targets
Training session and Inductions
Deadlines
August 2007
Monday, 16 July 2007
Thursday, 12 July 2007
Technological Trends and the Information Environment- Asignment 6
How will the technological trends change the information environment and user behaviours? And how can libraries meet the challenges?
The Technological trends we are all facing are here to stay and of course it will change the information environment as we know it.
The need for quality information has never been more in demand and the demand is even greater for the speed in which it is delivered. But has the demand for instant information been instigated by the continuous introduction of new technology with all its promises or has the demand for new technology been a result of continuous demands on users time for instant information, either way it’s here to stay. The challenge to libraries is not only to keep up to date with it all but try and stay one step ahead.
Graduates are beginning to arrive at places of work – i.e. NHS environments, with some knowledge of technological trends and how to use them, they rightly then expect these trends to continue into their new learning environment and expect the providers of the CME to at least be familiar with them. This creates a need by library staff to investigate, embrace and instill it into their own daily lives, which is not always as easy as it should be.
What about the physical environment – the demand for access to new technology comes at a price. If a library wants to retain its physical presence it needs to spend valuable money on IT equipment, In my library it is essential that we provide this accessibility as it is not a given that everyone who works in the NHS has easy access to a computer at their own work place – the library offers this and must continue to do so but at a cost. So now we have decided we need more computers in the library – where do we find the space, do we get rid of books and paper copies of journals? Do we extend our libraries – highly unlikely in this financial environment. Do we just manage – of course.
The users who are willing and able to use us remotely now become a different user group and we have to meet their demands. If for example a group of graduates are prepared to have a remote induction rather than a physical tour from library staff. How can we ensure the quality of the broadcast is good enough – are we to also train as broadcasters because listening to some of the examples of existing podcasts was painful. If I couldn’t even sit through a complete podcast because of sheer boredom and the monotonous tones of the broadcaster what chances do we have of exciting our users with our renditions of library life. Also we need to engage the support of our IT departments, again I sigh in desperation. I have just tried to link to a mock up library podcast which I thought was an excellent idea only to be blocked by my IT department – Reason – The Websense category “MP3 and Audio Download Services” is filtered, I rest my case.
The Technological trends we are all facing are here to stay and of course it will change the information environment as we know it.
The need for quality information has never been more in demand and the demand is even greater for the speed in which it is delivered. But has the demand for instant information been instigated by the continuous introduction of new technology with all its promises or has the demand for new technology been a result of continuous demands on users time for instant information, either way it’s here to stay. The challenge to libraries is not only to keep up to date with it all but try and stay one step ahead.
Graduates are beginning to arrive at places of work – i.e. NHS environments, with some knowledge of technological trends and how to use them, they rightly then expect these trends to continue into their new learning environment and expect the providers of the CME to at least be familiar with them. This creates a need by library staff to investigate, embrace and instill it into their own daily lives, which is not always as easy as it should be.
What about the physical environment – the demand for access to new technology comes at a price. If a library wants to retain its physical presence it needs to spend valuable money on IT equipment, In my library it is essential that we provide this accessibility as it is not a given that everyone who works in the NHS has easy access to a computer at their own work place – the library offers this and must continue to do so but at a cost. So now we have decided we need more computers in the library – where do we find the space, do we get rid of books and paper copies of journals? Do we extend our libraries – highly unlikely in this financial environment. Do we just manage – of course.
The users who are willing and able to use us remotely now become a different user group and we have to meet their demands. If for example a group of graduates are prepared to have a remote induction rather than a physical tour from library staff. How can we ensure the quality of the broadcast is good enough – are we to also train as broadcasters because listening to some of the examples of existing podcasts was painful. If I couldn’t even sit through a complete podcast because of sheer boredom and the monotonous tones of the broadcaster what chances do we have of exciting our users with our renditions of library life. Also we need to engage the support of our IT departments, again I sigh in desperation. I have just tried to link to a mock up library podcast which I thought was an excellent idea only to be blocked by my IT department – Reason – The Websense category “MP3 and Audio Download Services” is filtered, I rest my case.
Tuesday, 10 July 2007
Mix and Mashups - Assignment 5
I was quite looking forward to this weeks topic of podcasts, always fancied myself in broadcasting, So what did I discover about podcasts.
According to Rodney B Murray - Web 2.0 and Podcasting: Implications for Health Care. Podcasting involves the recording of audio programs that are then made available for download from a website.
This article then gave three scenarios.
Scenario 1 was about the student John who had to leave a lecture early but was able to catch up later by downloading the lecture and listening to it in his own time. I found this quite amusing, have we really reached the point where students no longer have to attend lectures, can learn when they want and with no consideration for planning and team work. And what abut the lecturers – can we begin to replace them with a video/podcast recorded at the beginning of a term that will suffice for the whole course. Education institutions of all sorts may be beginning to make course content available as podcasts and this may make sure everyone has access but this is really all that matters, when do social skills, respect and debate get practiced.
Scenario 2 - The clinician on the other hand has a valid reason for using podcasts for CME – I know the importance of CME and that a clinicians spare time is limited – so this seems an excellent way to keep up to date. Might be a little anti social but then who really wants to hold a conversation with fellow travelers.
Scenario 3 - The patient scenario I find a little unbelievable. Yes I agree that some patients might be quite averse with i-pod technology and might appreciate the information they are given but the people I know, the average patient still has trouble with talking to a person (doctor or nurse) surely giving them a piece of technology that they are probably phobic about anyway is only going to add to their stress levels and what about the personal touch, how can an i-pod vid cast help alleviate their anxiety – inform them of what is going to happen yes( providing they watch it and they want to know anyway) but answer their questions with compassion – no.
My dreams of being the next Fern Britton have now been quashed – I don’t want to broadcast information as a replacement for the personal touch, how can I be sure the viewer won’t just turn the sound down to ignore me.
Mashups on the other hand I find a little more difficult to get to grips with. In An Introduction to mashups for Health Librarians by Allan Choo his explanation is that mashups was a term used in pop music by artists and Disc Jockeys when two songs were remixed and played at the same time and that web experts have borrowed the term when two or more software tools are merged – is this a good comparison I ask, Have you heard some of those remixes? Can’t really get my head round the need to mix together 2 web applications – isn’t this already available as a link on a blog and if it’s different I’m afraid the difference has not yet registered with me.
According to Rodney B Murray - Web 2.0 and Podcasting: Implications for Health Care. Podcasting involves the recording of audio programs that are then made available for download from a website.
This article then gave three scenarios.
Scenario 1 was about the student John who had to leave a lecture early but was able to catch up later by downloading the lecture and listening to it in his own time. I found this quite amusing, have we really reached the point where students no longer have to attend lectures, can learn when they want and with no consideration for planning and team work. And what abut the lecturers – can we begin to replace them with a video/podcast recorded at the beginning of a term that will suffice for the whole course. Education institutions of all sorts may be beginning to make course content available as podcasts and this may make sure everyone has access but this is really all that matters, when do social skills, respect and debate get practiced.
Scenario 2 - The clinician on the other hand has a valid reason for using podcasts for CME – I know the importance of CME and that a clinicians spare time is limited – so this seems an excellent way to keep up to date. Might be a little anti social but then who really wants to hold a conversation with fellow travelers.
Scenario 3 - The patient scenario I find a little unbelievable. Yes I agree that some patients might be quite averse with i-pod technology and might appreciate the information they are given but the people I know, the average patient still has trouble with talking to a person (doctor or nurse) surely giving them a piece of technology that they are probably phobic about anyway is only going to add to their stress levels and what about the personal touch, how can an i-pod vid cast help alleviate their anxiety – inform them of what is going to happen yes( providing they watch it and they want to know anyway) but answer their questions with compassion – no.
My dreams of being the next Fern Britton have now been quashed – I don’t want to broadcast information as a replacement for the personal touch, how can I be sure the viewer won’t just turn the sound down to ignore me.
Mashups on the other hand I find a little more difficult to get to grips with. In An Introduction to mashups for Health Librarians by Allan Choo his explanation is that mashups was a term used in pop music by artists and Disc Jockeys when two songs were remixed and played at the same time and that web experts have borrowed the term when two or more software tools are merged – is this a good comparison I ask, Have you heard some of those remixes? Can’t really get my head round the need to mix together 2 web applications – isn’t this already available as a link on a blog and if it’s different I’m afraid the difference has not yet registered with me.
Wikis - Assignment 4
Wikis – in theory the wiki is a useful tool for cataloguing a collection of information. However according to Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki -
Anyone who wants to add to or edit topics on the wiki can do it. You don't need to ask before making a change -- wiki’s belong to the community of librarians who use it. . This I find quite worrying, surely consistency is not maintained if ANYONE can add or edit a topic. In my experience allowing anyone to dabble in cataloguing can only be inviting trouble, I spent many hours tidying up such a catalogue after years of inexperienced employees had used key words they thought were appropriate.
Then we have the Welcome to the Blogging Libraries Wiki – what is this all about.
We have Blogs that in practice are used like personal journals or taken further can be used as an information site a sort of Intranet available on the web – but then we have a blogging library wiki – a wiki to organise all the different types of library blogs available.
This new technology seems to be using technology for the sake of it.
Chainki on the whole I found quite interesting – until I tried to follow 1 particular link that I was interested in –Aart History. First I searched the ARTs section which I thought was the obvious one and yes I found some interesting stuff. Doing a general search for Art History also led me to this category, however I also found a very useful link under Kids and teens. Arts, Painting and history – this I found rather a long winded way of getting to a site about ART HISTORY. You could also follow a different path under recreation to reach it too. What is wrong with agreeing on one category if it is an agreed and tested term. I just feel that this freedom to call a spade by any kind of digging implement you can think of is just too extreme and I reserve judgement on this particular part of new technology.
Anyone who wants to add to or edit topics on the wiki can do it. You don't need to ask before making a change -- wiki’s belong to the community of librarians who use it. . This I find quite worrying, surely consistency is not maintained if ANYONE can add or edit a topic. In my experience allowing anyone to dabble in cataloguing can only be inviting trouble, I spent many hours tidying up such a catalogue after years of inexperienced employees had used key words they thought were appropriate.
Then we have the Welcome to the Blogging Libraries Wiki – what is this all about.
We have Blogs that in practice are used like personal journals or taken further can be used as an information site a sort of Intranet available on the web – but then we have a blogging library wiki – a wiki to organise all the different types of library blogs available.
This new technology seems to be using technology for the sake of it.
Chainki on the whole I found quite interesting – until I tried to follow 1 particular link that I was interested in –Aart History. First I searched the ARTs section which I thought was the obvious one and yes I found some interesting stuff. Doing a general search for Art History also led me to this category, however I also found a very useful link under Kids and teens. Arts, Painting and history – this I found rather a long winded way of getting to a site about ART HISTORY. You could also follow a different path under recreation to reach it too. What is wrong with agreeing on one category if it is an agreed and tested term. I just feel that this freedom to call a spade by any kind of digging implement you can think of is just too extreme and I reserve judgement on this particular part of new technology.
Monday, 18 June 2007
Social Bookmarking - Assignment 3
Well I am really late with this , currently running at least a week behind, but perhaps that is a sign of the times for me. I may be struggling to keep up but I get there in the end - Hare and Tortoise spring to mind.
To recap as I see it - We've set up our blogs and started locating and using RSS feeds. We've looked at each others blogs and made comments - a bit of social networking perhaps. We have transferred our ideas into a library setting ( In my imagiantion) and all is well so far. We now want and expect our users to join in. That presupposes our users are interested or even know what we are talking about.
So what is Social Bookmarking - it's not only a way of highlighting relevant pages for our users but a way to encourage them to join the information world and share what they know by using any of the bookmarking tools out there!!!
WE have del.icio.us to link us to useful websites and this is one that I am trying to remember to use myself. It is easy to use and does help me keep my favourites in one easily accessible place so it is one I will try and introduce to library staff before I explore the knowledge base known as health professionals.
Citeulike is recommended for collecting articles - I have been asked in the past about collection/referencing tools so this is one I will be looking at in more depth as a solution.
Library thing was interesting - but I found so many categories that I was spoilt for choice. After spending ages trying to decide which group I would like tio investigate further I gave up out of sheer frustration at my own inability to keep on one track at a time - it was so easy to keep getting sidelined by anything I found remotely interesting. Not sure how this would transfer into the health library setting.
43 things - life goals - was another site that I could have spent ages on - My interest in people (some would say I was nosey) kept me on this site for ages - some people have such dreams and aspirations and whilst I was so envious of some of the 'things' achieved - I did want to scream at some of them to get a life. Don't think I will be joining this group - prefere to keep my dreams private thank you.
Having explored Social bookmarking and tools I was a bit unsure about Folsonomies - correct me if I am wrong but does this mean tagging any sites/links/hits /favourites/whatever with your own keyword. A way of collecting/storing/bunching/filing informatiom by using words that you personally use and that mean something to you - your own interpretation? Does this mean we are then going to see more local dialects/slangs/quips be used because I have only just come to grips with certain terms and phrases used in the Black Country and I have been married to a Black Country man for over 30 years.
I can see the reasoning behind it and in a way I think it a good idea - but where will it end, what about control. As a librarian I am worried about the mish mash of search terms that appear and that it will only make searching for information more confusing for the user - We have spent years trying to educate them to search under our accepted terms and now we are saying - hey forget all that lets use any term you can think of and lets see what we can find - but don't forget to mark it so someone else can use a term they never thought of to look for something they don't want.
To recap as I see it - We've set up our blogs and started locating and using RSS feeds. We've looked at each others blogs and made comments - a bit of social networking perhaps. We have transferred our ideas into a library setting ( In my imagiantion) and all is well so far. We now want and expect our users to join in. That presupposes our users are interested or even know what we are talking about.
So what is Social Bookmarking - it's not only a way of highlighting relevant pages for our users but a way to encourage them to join the information world and share what they know by using any of the bookmarking tools out there!!!
WE have del.icio.us to link us to useful websites and this is one that I am trying to remember to use myself. It is easy to use and does help me keep my favourites in one easily accessible place so it is one I will try and introduce to library staff before I explore the knowledge base known as health professionals.
Citeulike is recommended for collecting articles - I have been asked in the past about collection/referencing tools so this is one I will be looking at in more depth as a solution.
Library thing was interesting - but I found so many categories that I was spoilt for choice. After spending ages trying to decide which group I would like tio investigate further I gave up out of sheer frustration at my own inability to keep on one track at a time - it was so easy to keep getting sidelined by anything I found remotely interesting. Not sure how this would transfer into the health library setting.
43 things - life goals - was another site that I could have spent ages on - My interest in people (some would say I was nosey) kept me on this site for ages - some people have such dreams and aspirations and whilst I was so envious of some of the 'things' achieved - I did want to scream at some of them to get a life. Don't think I will be joining this group - prefere to keep my dreams private thank you.
Having explored Social bookmarking and tools I was a bit unsure about Folsonomies - correct me if I am wrong but does this mean tagging any sites/links/hits /favourites/whatever with your own keyword. A way of collecting/storing/bunching/filing informatiom by using words that you personally use and that mean something to you - your own interpretation? Does this mean we are then going to see more local dialects/slangs/quips be used because I have only just come to grips with certain terms and phrases used in the Black Country and I have been married to a Black Country man for over 30 years.
I can see the reasoning behind it and in a way I think it a good idea - but where will it end, what about control. As a librarian I am worried about the mish mash of search terms that appear and that it will only make searching for information more confusing for the user - We have spent years trying to educate them to search under our accepted terms and now we are saying - hey forget all that lets use any term you can think of and lets see what we can find - but don't forget to mark it so someone else can use a term they never thought of to look for something they don't want.
Friday, 1 June 2007
RSS feeds
http://www.physiospot.com/blogs.html
The aim of Physiospot is to provide a set of research article blogs that allow physiotherapists to easily stay up to date with current research in their area of interest.
The objectives of these blogs are, by listing summaries of the recently published research articles in chronological order, assist physiotherapists and other health practitioners in:
· implementing evidence based practice by providing a single resourcewhere current relevant research can be accessed
· complying with continued professional development requirements by providing a CPD activity for authors and readers
http://www.revolutionhealth.com/blogs/valjonesmd/complementary-medicin-1921
Complementary medicine; opinions from the medical blogsphere (American)
http://www.food.gov.uk/
Food Standards Agency in particular the eatwell website for consumer advice on healthy eating.
The aim of Physiospot is to provide a set of research article blogs that allow physiotherapists to easily stay up to date with current research in their area of interest.
The objectives of these blogs are, by listing summaries of the recently published research articles in chronological order, assist physiotherapists and other health practitioners in:
· implementing evidence based practice by providing a single resourcewhere current relevant research can be accessed
· complying with continued professional development requirements by providing a CPD activity for authors and readers
http://www.revolutionhealth.com/blogs/valjonesmd/complementary-medicin-1921
Complementary medicine; opinions from the medical blogsphere (American)
http://www.food.gov.uk/
Food Standards Agency in particular the eatwell website for consumer advice on healthy eating.
The role of Blogs in the library
Before the start of this course I had heard about blogs but to be honest had tried to keep my head firmly buried in the sand hoping either it would go away(Unlikely) or someone would eventually put it in to a step by step guide that I could follow at my own pace(very slowly). Well this course came up and I pulled my head out of the sand and set to finding out what it was all about.
I have thought long and hard about the place of blogs in libraries and have not yet reached a final conclusion. As I see it or as I am lead to believe, blogging is the way forward but what I am struggling with is who is it for - surely if I am struggling to understand the concepts then my users would struggle too. In my experience, some healthcare personnel struggle with the basics of IT so how do I promote this to them - new technology may just have the effect of scaring them off even more. I have yet to crack the Intranet frontier with them so I know blogging will be a challenge.
If we do go down the road of promoting the library with a blog then does that mean we have to set up training events just to show our users how to get the information about the place that can help them find information ?(If you follow my drift)
Next on my list is content - what do we put in these blogs - do we try to reach everyone with interesting links for their specialty or do we focus on the library services which are already listed on every available space, Intranet, leaflets, Inductions. No one media seems to work at the moment so would another one just add to the list of never to be looked at sites.
At the moment we are all commenting on each others sites and think this is a great means of communication, but again will the users ever feel the need to comment on a library site when at the moment some only ever send emails as a last resort.
How much time will this take to set up and maintain - is it better to have one person responsible for it or should everyone have a dabble at content, either way staffing issues and maintenance of the site are in question.
Whilst this all seems very negative I do admit to be interested in the idea, I know libraries have not only got to move with the times but to be one step ahead whenever possible. No-one wants to play catch up expecially with technology and I know that the newer qualified professionals starting to come through our doors already know more than I do in some areas. Unfortunately at the moment I feel there are still more questions than answers.
I have thought long and hard about the place of blogs in libraries and have not yet reached a final conclusion. As I see it or as I am lead to believe, blogging is the way forward but what I am struggling with is who is it for - surely if I am struggling to understand the concepts then my users would struggle too. In my experience, some healthcare personnel struggle with the basics of IT so how do I promote this to them - new technology may just have the effect of scaring them off even more. I have yet to crack the Intranet frontier with them so I know blogging will be a challenge.
If we do go down the road of promoting the library with a blog then does that mean we have to set up training events just to show our users how to get the information about the place that can help them find information ?(If you follow my drift)
Next on my list is content - what do we put in these blogs - do we try to reach everyone with interesting links for their specialty or do we focus on the library services which are already listed on every available space, Intranet, leaflets, Inductions. No one media seems to work at the moment so would another one just add to the list of never to be looked at sites.
At the moment we are all commenting on each others sites and think this is a great means of communication, but again will the users ever feel the need to comment on a library site when at the moment some only ever send emails as a last resort.
How much time will this take to set up and maintain - is it better to have one person responsible for it or should everyone have a dabble at content, either way staffing issues and maintenance of the site are in question.
Whilst this all seems very negative I do admit to be interested in the idea, I know libraries have not only got to move with the times but to be one step ahead whenever possible. No-one wants to play catch up expecially with technology and I know that the newer qualified professionals starting to come through our doors already know more than I do in some areas. Unfortunately at the moment I feel there are still more questions than answers.
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