According to a recent Chronicle of Higher Education article, professors' lectures are gaining popularity on YouTube as more colleges are signing agreements with the site to set up official "channels." The article also notes other video-sharing web sites such as Big Think which opened this week and FORAtv. These web sites provides short video clip interviews with academics, authors, … Continue reading College Professors are the New YouTube Stars
A Dual: Yahoo!Answers vs Wikipedia
Online journal Slate Magazine recently posted an article discussing these two top open forum "reference" sites. Yahoo!Answers is described as "every middle-school teacher's worst nightmare on the Web" but still remains "the juggernaut in its field." Why? How does Wikipedia stack up in comparison? Read this article from Slate Magazine. What do you think?
Social Networking: Opinions & Practices of Library Users & Librarians
OCLC's (Online Computer Library Center) recent report, Sharing, Privacy and Trust in Our Networked World, presents the results of a study conducted to find out both library users' and librarians' opinions and practices in regards to social networking. Over 6,100 users, ages 14-84 from the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom were surveyed. Survey participants … Continue reading Social Networking: Opinions & Practices of Library Users & Librarians
For Book Lovers
LibraryThing (http://www.librarything.com) is a social networking web site that allows you to: Catalog a collection of your favorite books and access your catalog from any Internet-accessible computer. Find out what other people are reading and share books with people who have similar reading interests. Get recommendations/suggestions for what to read based on your interests. Write … Continue reading For Book Lovers
Access your favorite web links from anywhere
Del.icio.us (http://del.icio.us/) is a social bookmarking site that allows you to: Bookmark your favorite links and access them from any Internet-accessible computer. Share your favorite links with family and friends. Find out what other people are bookmarking on Del.icio.us and add these links to your collection on Del.icio.us. To find out more about Del.icio.us, click … Continue reading Access your favorite web links from anywhere
Wikipedia – Quality or Quantity?
As noted in a recent article from the Chronicle of Higher Education, "Quality, not quantity, has become Priority No. 1" for Wikipedia. Which direction do you think Wikipedia should take?
Scholarly Research – Google vs. Librarians
A recent article from the Chronicle of Higher Education, Librarians Find a Place in a 'Web 2.0' World, directs attention to Thomas Mann's essay, The Peloponnesian War and the Future of Reference, Cataloging, and Scholarship in Research Libraries. This essay examines the: priniciples and practices of reference services and cataloging; the differences between quick information seeking and … Continue reading Scholarly Research – Google vs. Librarians
Authority 3.0
With the Web 2.0 world of self-publishing and social networking rapidly growing and companies such as Google continually developing more effective search mechanisms for retrieving relevant results, where does that leave the traditional peer review process? Michael Jensen's recent article from the Chronicle of Higher Education, The New Metrics of Scholarly Authority, discusses the changing nature of scholarly authority … Continue reading Authority 3.0
Is Wikipedia Trustworthy?
While the academic world continues the ongoing debate on whether Wikipedia is a reliable reference tool, the History Department at Middlebury College made a decision this past January to ban students from using Wikipedia as a citable source in their papers and exams. As a librarian, I feel that Wikipedia is a great starting point tool … Continue reading Is Wikipedia Trustworthy?
Social Networking Platform for Academia
Andrew's article from Wired magazine, "Don't Tell Your Parents: Schools Embrace MySpace," provides an overview on Elgg, an open source social networking platform specifically designed for the academic community. Elgg allows personal learning environments -- "mashup spaces comprising del.icio.us feeds, blog posts, podcast widgets -- whatever resources students need to document, consume or communicate their learning across disciplines."