This comes from Intellagirl’s blog. It seems that a great new learning space, Angle Learning Isle, is available for everyone to try in Second Life (I can’t wait to check this out). This space has a sandbox area, educator’s tool gallery, and classrooms on demand – sounds perfect for those who want to try things out before committing whole heartedly – among other things.
And congrats to Intellagirl on her new job!
Anyone else catch this sad state of affairs? On Jeopardy, they had a question (no surprise there) – what does the loc stand for in www.loc.gov. Sounds easy right? Not a single contestant was able to answer the question! Certainly something that needs to be remedied!
I saw a sign coming home the other day and I keep meaning to take another look at it. It was a text messaging service. All you had to do was text a question, anything they stress, to Just Ask (this is of course if I am remembering the sign correctly). Answering questions – isn’t this our business? Have we been beaten again (see my post on the Find Engine)?
I realize that there are a few libraries offering services via text messaging but I believe it is still relatively low. We can easily offer updates of new content, let patrons know when books are in, and yes, even reference service through text messaging. This is certainly the way many university students communicate and we’ve all heard that email is the way old people communicate! I’d love to know if this service is getting a lot of questions. I’d also love to know who’s answering these questions (which is another reason to take a look at that sign).
As an aside, I’ll be quiet the next few days as I’m off to Phoenix for the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) Task Force Meeting (inconveniently timed to coincide with Computers in Libraries, which I really must go to sometime). I’m sure I’ll have lots to blog about during/after the conference.
A little bit of classical archaeology for your Easter long weekend. It seems that a Roman-era tomb has been found filled with riches, missed by grave-robbers. A much better treat to find then hidden Easter eggs!
Is there such a thing as exciting statistics? Take a look at this YouTube video – the first 5 minutes are amazing! I was introduced to it at the Winter Institute for Statistical Literacy for Librarians and recently used it for a reference round table I co-presented on data and statistics. I’ve also used it for the distance course I teach and it really got the dialogue following among my students (often a hard thing for distance courses and even more difficult when the topic is statistics – the normal discourse runs along the line of I hate statistics!). It’s a great example of the power of statistics when used correctly and helps statistics become more exciting I think.
Learning 2.0 has started up again after a break for everyone to catch up and I’m back to post my experiences. I love this weeks topic – applications. There are a ton out there and I never have time to find or play with them all. We’ve been given a list of applications to go and play with. Great assignment! I love playing with new toys! I’ve played with a number before, such as Google Docs, Last.fm (which I love – a great way to find artists similar to ones you know and love) and flickr toys. Rollyo looks intersting and I think I’ll come back and check it out again. Here’s are some avatars I made
Web 2.0 applications are generally easy to use, free and neat. In all web 2.0 applications are great!
Ok, I’m not hiding something but it feels like I might have been hiding. It’s been a while, but I have been very busy. Not a lot to share today. I’m gearing up to do a virtual reference pilot in Second Life. It should be interesting. As much potential as there may be in SL, until our students our there, we are only helping the SL community (which isn’t a bad thing, but if you’re under staffed, one needs to consider priorities). I recently gave a lecture on learning (my first time guest lecturing – lots of fun) to a first year multimedia class, some of the students seemed interested. It would be interesting to know if any come visit our space on account of that class.
Have you checked out Scribd? It looks interesting. All the web 2.0 social software for your documents. I’m not sure I want people tagging and commenting on my work just yet. I’ve been using Google Docs for collaboration recently and I think I’ll stick with that for now.
And in case you haven’t heard already, the title of this post is courtesy of Stephen Colbert.
Calling all Canadian librarians! I’m interested in seeing what types of grants Canadian librarians have applied for (and hopefully received). Please share your knowledge! Thanks!
Well, this might seem like a little gloating, but our new Learning Commons just received an award from the students here. It received the McMaster Student Union’s Rudy Heinzl Award for Excellence, which recognizes an outstanding one year achievement which improves teh lives of McMaster Students. See what others have to say here and here.
Jim Milles has set up a ning group for Second Life Librarians. Check it out and join!
I must admit I like the idea of being able to set up thematic social networks. I’m also part of the library 2.0 ning group, which you should check out if you haven’t yet. It’s grown like wild fire!
by 
