social software
« Previous EntriesThe right to create our own digital footprints?
Thursday, January 3rd, 2013There are things on the Internet about me that I regret. Things that embarras me. Things that make me cringe. However, it’s nothing that I didn’t do to myself. I own it. I feel like, for the most part, I am responsible for my online persona. I created the “me” that people see online (which, [...]
Behavior vs. belief and changing culture
Monday, July 23rd, 2012At LOEX of the West this summer (a fantastic conference, btw), Joan Kaplowitz did a session where she started by asking attendees what words they associate with assessment. I won’t list the litany of negative terms that came from the audience, but I will say that the most positive word used to describe assessment was [...]
Up to my neck in… well, everything.
Monday, April 9th, 2012You know you’re a real blogger when, no matter how absurdly busy the rest of your life is, the thing you can’t do that you miss the most is blogging. It’s been a crazy almost two months and isn’t looking to get any better in the near future. Isn’t it funny when you look back [...]
The changing professional conversation
Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011I have had some great discussions on Twitter. Professional discussions, discussions about parenting, conversations with friends. I’ve been pleasantly surprised that you can have a quality professional discussion with multiple people (some of whom you may not normally follow) in that medium. I have also gotten great information and advice in response to “querying the [...]
Tips for being a great blogger (and good person)
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011Since having my son, I have not been the best blogger in the world, but that doesn’t meant that I’m not thinking about blogging. I probably have a year’s worth of posts in my head, but always time with adorable toddler trumps blogging. I wish I could be more of a Tweeter, but I find [...]
Collaborative tech, virtual participation, and what is an “open meeting” anyways?
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011Let me say this first. I am not an expert in ALA or LITA (or even ACRL) bylaws regarding participation, open meetings, etc. I’m sure a lot of very experienced and awesome people like Jason Griffey, Aaron Dobbs and Cindi Trainor could speak to these issues from the standpoint of someone who is immersed in [...]
What do they really need?
Monday, December 13th, 2010I’m not sure if I’ve become more cynical or just more observant, but lately I feel like I’ve been seeing things through new eyes. We make so many assumptions in this profession, often based on the idea that we know what students need and want. Time and again, research has shown that we’re usually wrong. [...]
Inspiring stuff to read, Take 1
Friday, August 13th, 2010Between work, my son and the class I’m teaching at SJSU (which is about to start), I rarely have time these days to blog. It’s certainly not that I’m uninspired to do so, as I’m constantly reading things that inspire me, provoke me, or just plain interest me. But anyone who has read my blog [...]
The Social Divide
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010I think it’s fantastic that companies are using social media to promote their brands and communicate more directly with their customers. It’s wild when I write about my favorite wine and the New Zealand winemaker actually responds to me on Twitter. Great brand monitoring St. Clair (update: fixed incorrect URL)! There are so many inspiring [...]
A skeptic gets a Kindle
Sunday, June 6th, 2010I never in a million years thought I’d get an eBook reader from the current batch of options. They were so not on my radar. I didn’t get all excited and jealous when I saw people with them. I never even thought I’d want to read a book that way. Heck, I hate reading articles [...]
Old media really doesn’t “get” new media
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010Last semester, one of my students linked to this great conversation between Teresa Nielsen Hayden (community manager for Boing Boing) and John Scalzi about community-building through comments and moderation. It’s a fantastic read — check it out. Nielsen Hayden made a comment about the need for moderation to promote good behavior in a community and [...]
Rethinking online learning
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010This was another amazing semester teaching at San Jose State University. I had significantly more students in my class this semester than in the past (more than double), which at first made me nervous about the workload I’d have to take on. But it actually ended up leading to an even better class experience, IMHO. [...]
Computers in Libraries Recap: Day 2
Thursday, April 15th, 2010Day 2 was just as full and wonderful as Day 1. I continued my mostly staying offline during the conference and I think it really helped me to keep focused on what was going on in front of me. While I do like Twitter in a lot of ways and think it’s great for conferences, [...]
Computers in Libraries Recap: Day 1
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010Since it had been two years since I’d been to an Information Today Conference, I was really excited to attend Computers in Libraries and it did not disappoint. It was a fantastic learning and social experience with a much more diverse array of sessions than in previous years. I was really happy to see a [...]
Coming to terms with Twitter
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010I’ve been teaching a class on Web 2.0 since 2007, and this semester is the first time that I’ve actually had a full week on Twitter (well, microblogging and lifestreaming to be specific). Before, I treated it sort of as an afterthought, including some information on Twitter during the two weeks that I covered blogging. [...]
Teaching Web 2.0 with Web 2.0
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010After a year off from teaching to take care of baby Reed, I’m getting back up on the horse. I’ll be teaching a class on Web 2.0 and Social Networking Software for San Jose State University’s SLIS program starting this Tuesday. As usual, I’ll be using Drupal for my online classroom (rather than Angel, which [...]
Community-generated children’s book for charity
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010For the holidays, I bought Reed an awesome personalized book. While I still have the personalized book my dad made me when I was 3, I must admit that the storyline and illustrations are pretty lame. The one I made for Reed, Following Featherbottom, is beautifully illustrated and educational, teaching kids about geography (not that [...]
Edublog Award Nominations
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009In this post I’m just registering my nominations for the 2009 Edublog Awards. My Nominations for The 2009 Edublog Awards are: Best New Blog – In the Library with the Lead Pipe (just over 1 year old; hope that counts as new!) Best resource sharing blog – The Distant Librarian Best librarian / library blog [...]
This is not my blogosphere
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009One of the things I always loved most about social media was the transparency it created. If a product, service, hotel, etc. was terrible, you could be sure that you’d hear about it from plenty of bloggers. On the other side of things, small companies and talented individuals were able to get noticed because of [...]
Roles and responsibilities for 2.0 technologies
Sunday, August 30th, 2009I get asked a lot of things via email from librarians, but very few actually make it to this blog. This question was so interesting and probably better answered by the “hive” than just by little old me. I am also curious how others would respond. I was wondering if you had any advice or [...]
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