The end of Twitter?

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The end of Twitter?free the information!, librarianship, our digital future, social software, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 11/18/2022 with Comments Off on The end of Twitter?

The tl:dr is in whatever online communities you frequent, do you ever ask yourself “who isn’t here? Who doesn’t feel welcome here? What barriers are there to participation?” If not, you should. What I like about Twitter is how much more diverse it was than any place I’ve been online, and also how so many …

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We are atomized. We are monetized. We are ephemera. Do we deserve more online?

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We are atomized. We are monetized. We are ephemera. Do we deserve more online?our digital future, social software, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 6/12/2018 with 5 comments

In March and April, I took about 5 weeks off from social media. I didn’t post anything to or look at Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. I’d wondered if I’d feel disconnected or feel some irresistible pull like an addict to their drug of choice. To be honest, I didn’t really feel any of that. I didn’t …

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The dangers of the backchannel: my observations from the #ACRL2017 hashtag

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The dangers of the backchannel: my observations from the #ACRL2017 hashtaglibrarianship, libraries, social software, speaking, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 3/30/2017 with 9 comments

When I took my current job at PCC almost three years ago, I gained so many things: work I love, amazing engaged colleagues, a mission I identify with, terrific students, and great faculty collaborators. One of the things I lost was sufficient professional development funding. I haven’t attended an out-of-state conference in almost three years, and while …

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Are online MLIS degree-holders “less than?”

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Are online MLIS degree-holders “less than?”library school, online education, our digital future, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 6/22/2015 with 42 comments

When I graduated from library school, I worried about anti-online-degree bias. I worried that people would think my degree was somehow “less than” because I’d done it fully online. I remember being asked some questions about it at one interview that made the search committee’s biases pretty clear, but the people who eventually hired me …

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Free and Cheap Technologies to Supercharge Your Teaching

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Free and Cheap Technologies to Supercharge Your Teachinginstruction, speaking, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 9/3/2014 with 1 comment

Just gave a fun whirlwind instructional technology talk and I wanted to provide the slides and links below for the attendees (and anyone else who’s interested). Slides: Links: Tools for Point of Need and/or Mobile Instruction Library DIY ARIS QR Codes QR Codes Video Demo QR Code Generators Kaywa QR Stuff QR Code Readers Kaywa Quickmark …

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Good for what? Considering context in building learning objects.

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Good for what? Considering context in building learning objects.hi, instruction, librarianship, libraries, reference, tech trends, Work

by Meredith Farkas on 8/19/2013 with 12 comments

I’m working with a colleague of mine (Amy Hofer of Threshold Concepts fame) to create a suite of tutorials that are going to be integrated into online University Studies (think General Education) classes. One of the learning objects we plan to create is envisioned as being called “good for what?” Students tend to look at …

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Library DIY: Unmediated point-of-need support

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Library DIY: Unmediated point-of-need supportinstruction, librarianship, libraries, management, MPOW, our digital future, reference, tech trends, Work

by Meredith Farkas on 7/2/2013 with 18 comments

I recently realized that while I write about a lot of things, I do not often write about the work I’m doing at Portland State and through the Oregon Library Association. I think it comes partly from a desire not to toot my own horn, but it also reflects my nervousness about writing about work …

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Mobile Learning: The Teacher in Your Pocket

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Mobile Learning: The Teacher in Your Pocketfree the information!, instruction, libraries, open access, our digital future, tech trends, writing

by Meredith Farkas on 4/23/2013 with 4 comments

There’s a great new book out on mobile technologies in libraries and I was fortunate to have been asked to contribute a chapter on mobile learning and mobile instruction in libraries. The book is called The Handheld Library: Mobile Technology and the Librarian and it was edited by the undeniably awesome Tom Peters and Lori …

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Interview on mobile technologies at ALA TechSource Bloglibraries, our digital future, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 7/11/2011 with Comments Off on Interview on mobile technologies at ALA TechSource Blog

In anticipation of my upcoming two-part workshop on mobile technologies for libraries, Dan Freeman of ALA TechSource interviewed me, asking me about my thoughts on the present and future challenges and possibilities for mobile tech in libraries. The interview is now up on the ALA TechSource blog and I’m just pleased that I didn’t say …

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New Webinar: Delivering Innovative Mobile Services through Your Librarylibraries, our digital future, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 6/22/2011 with 2 comments

When I wrote my book Social Software in Libraries five years ago, I decided to include a chapter on mobile technologies. As I started researching the topic, I was disappointed to find that very few libraries were doing anything to make their services (including their website) accessible via a mobile device. I’d written a paper …

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Transliteracy from the perspective of an information literacy advocateinstruction, librarianship, libraries, our digital future, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 12/21/2010 with 31 comments

A colleague of mine and I have been talking about transliteracy for some time and came to very similar conclusions as David Rothman did in his smart and respectful critique. I’d thought about writing about it myself for months but two things stopped me. The first was that I thought perhaps there was something I …

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What do they really need?instruction, librarianship, libraries, our digital future, screencasting, tech trends, Work

by Meredith Farkas on 12/13/2010 with 15 comments

I’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. …

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Inspiring stuff to read, Take 2instruction, librarianship, libraries, library school, our digital future, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 9/7/2010 with 11 comments

I was thinking about writing a post reflecting on recent posts about the myth of the graying of the profession (and the coming librarian shortage) and Peter Brantley’s post about involving young’uns in discussing the future of libraries, but Colleen Harris beat me to the punch. And because she really knows how to tell-it-like-it-is, I …

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Inspiring stuff to read, Take 1Inspiring Stuff, librarianship, online education, our digital future, social software, tech trends, Work

by Meredith Farkas on 8/13/2010 with 6 comments

Between 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 …

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Computers in Libraries Recap: Day 3free the information!, librarianship, libraries, management, our digital future, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 4/15/2010 with 1 comment

I took an absolutely obscene amount of notes from Ken Haycock’s keynote, because it was just one pearl of wisdom after another (I’m only including some choice bits here). I’ve seen Ken speak once before, and he is someone I would go out of my way to hear speak because he has such deep knowledge …

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