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Tagged: Four Things …

Fri, 10 Mar 2006 19:04:40 +0000

Ok, I admit this post is horribly, horribly off topic and is something I don’t think is entirely appropriate for this space, but I got tagged as the scratchpad by our dear friend and colleague Amy Disch, so …

Four Jobs I

Naming Policy

Fri, 03 Mar 2006 22:46:28 +0000

Several months ago, the blog group discussed different blog policies. Around that time, I began seriously pondering my untyped policy about naming people on my weblog and decided I should write it down because I know some of you wonder why I name some people and not others. When a friend who recently started a weblog asked me for guidance about naming people, I realized now is as good of a time as any to put it down.

I try to be conservative when it comes to using people’s names or otherwise identifying them. I know many people who do not want their name all over the Internet, so I until I know for certain whether someone wants me to use their name or identify them specifically, I usually don’t. There are many entries where someone involved might recognize that I’m writing about him or her and perhaps a few others might recognize certain people some of the time. I believe strongly in privacy and anonymity, especially if someone wants those things for him- or herself.

I usually name or identify people under these circumstances:

I’m pointing to something on the Web that already contains someone’s name.

Another source clearly identifies the person.
I have the person’s permission to identify him or her.
The person attended a public event where many other people knew about this individual’s presence and actions.
I know that blogging about the person is okay through some other means.
The person is identified elsewhere on the Internet.

Some people wish to be identified only vaguely. Some people prefer me using their first name, initials, nickname, or some other feature rather than their full name. I try to abide by their wishes.

Sometimes, I decide not to name people because I want to protect my associates. I don’t necessarily want everyone on the Internet to know who my friends and associates are all of the time, with whom I’ve been socializing, or what I’ve been doing. The balance between blogging publicly and keeping aspects of my life private sometimes gets complicated.

Sometimes, I’m intentionally vague because names aren’t important. I might be trying to make a specific scenario become more generic and relevent to others by not giving names.

All that being said, I like giving credit where credit is due. Many people who read my weblogs send me items they think would interest me. Many of these people, however, do not always want me to publicly identify them. I try to acknowledge the contribution without identifying specifically who sent it to me. If you send me something and I do not know whether you want me to credit you or not, I might ask you–especially if you frequently send me things.

If I have named you and you wish not to be named, please let me know. If I haven’t named you, and you would like me to, please let me know.

Communication & Collaboration: Blogs, Wikis, and RSS Feeds, ACRL ITIG, 12/9/05

Mon, 12 Dec 2005 02:36:46 +0000

Communication & Collaboration: Blogs, Wikis, and RSS Feeds
ACRL ITIG
Friday, December 9, 2005

Because of a powerful snow storm, Megan Fox of Simmons College, and I were the only speakers who attended the program. I was late because of road conditions, so I missed part of Megan’s talk. My notes for the rest are below.

Unfortunately, I missed most of Megan Fox’ talk because I didn’t realize it would take me two hours to travel what I could usually travel in forty-five minutes due to the storm.

When I entered the room, Megan was talking about iPods and what libraries are doing with the devicees. A music library digitized a portion of their collection so when students ask for pieces, they don’t have to loan a stack of records of CDs–they can distribute the music as digital files.

Next, she covered wikis. She mentioned some of the controversies surrounding Wikipedia, but she said she wanted to avoid most of that discussion. Studies have shown that many college students use texting or instant messaging much more than they’d talk on the phone or do e-mail. A number of libraries are beginning to use the technology as a way to reach these customers. HarperCollins has IM to a friend features on their Web site. If publishers can do it, why shouldn’t libraries?

Social bookmarking sites are becoming more and more popular. Can libraries either adopt these for their own sites or can they create lists of shared bookmarks to assist students?

A very good point Megan made is that it’s important for libraries to figure out who’s responsible for maintaining new tools before beginning to utitilize them. In some cases, library users request certain technologies or ask the library to host certain services. The librarians need to be aware of who’s responsibile for running the service or tool.

The audience of a possible 75 shrank to 20 with the storm.

More information about the program

My presentation’s outline

A report of the program

Blogs and Knowledge Management, ACRL ITIG, 12/9/05

Mon, 12 Dec 2005 02:24:48 +0000

Blogs and Knowledge Management
Jessica Baumgart
ACRL ITIG
Friday, December 9, 2005

Raise your hand if you

[About twenty people were in the audience]

Blog [about 7 hands]

Manage knowledge [about 10 different hands]
Use a blog or blogs to manage knowledge [about 2 different hands and one hand of a blogger]
Use XML (RSS, Atom, podcasts, etc.) feeds [about 3 hands]
Use feeds as a way to manage knowledge [no hands]

What is knowledge management?

Knowledge management is

The storing and organizing of data so it is available for later use

The sharing of information with others
Managing knowledge in people

Taglines

Thu, 01 Dec 2005 22:38:35 +0000

“The world moves forward, yet the libraries remain an important local.”
–Sidney Verba, Harvard University Library director, at Harvard’s Librarians’ Assembly

Spam, makes old blogs smell fresh

Jazz up any blog with a healping of Spam

“Ice cream is really the greatest invention known to mankind.” by Wayne

“You’re so fucked. But your life is getting better every day.” by sj

“butterflies… they’re all… butterflies” by sj

“But it’s over
Just hear this and then I’ll go :
you gave me more to live for,
more than you’ll ever know.”
–Jeff Buckley

In the blogosphere, no one can hear you laugh.

j saves another news librarian … movie at 11!
–Amy Disch

“Seems wrong to create something so permanent for a momentary sensation …”
–Jeff Rusch
http://www.kk.org/helpwanted/archives/00…

Video killed the blogging star
Video killed the blogging star

What do I look like? A clock? I am not made of time.
What do I look like? A spice? I am not made of thyme.

I’ll stop the world and blog with you.

“And somewhere, the spirit of Darwin is weeping bitterly.”
–J. Grant and Mel Hynes

I Ching: “When two people are at one in their inmost hearts, they shatter even the strength of iron or bronze. And when two people understand each other in their inmost hearts, their words are sweet and strong, like the fragrance of orchids.” from a friend’s wedding invitation

"Can’t sleep… penguins’ll hit me"
–Solies

“You never know what will happen. A lot of times it’s like just slipping on a banana peel. It’s good if you eat a lot of bananas.
–Pontus’ friend Charlie

Please do not remove china from the International Cafe.

Gertrude Stein
“Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.”

The beginning of chapter five in book nine made me laugh.

the world needs more cute geeks

Blogging and Work, Lamont Forum Room, 11/14/2005

Mon, 21 Nov 2005 04:36:38 +0000

Blogging and Work
Jessica Baumgart
Lamont Forum Room
Monday, November 14, 2005

Raise your hand if:

[Of an audience of about 55]

You blog [5 hands]

You blog about work [same hands]
You work with someone who blogs [a few different hands]
A coworker blogs about work [very few hands]
You read a coworker

NELINET: The Magic and Power of Feeds, 11/4/2005

Fri, 04 Nov 2005 21:00:19 +0000

The Magic and Power of Feeds
j Baumgart
j

Rhode Island Blogs and Feeds Presentation, 10/25/2005

Sun, 30 Oct 2005 17:38:44 +0000

A Lively Presentation on Blogging in Special Libraries

j Baumgart

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jkbaumga/

SLA RI Chapter / URI GSLIS Student

Formal Dinner & Colloquium

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Why should librarians care?

· Feeds and blogs are great and powerful

· Librarians have not only a role in using feeds and weblogs, but also encouraging their clients to use the technology.

· If we drive technology in our organizations, we probably have a role in encouraging others to use the tools.

Weblogs

Raise Your Hand If You

Wisconsin Feeds Talk, 10/19/2005

Sun, 30 Oct 2005 17:27:53 +0000

Feeding Frenzy!!!

j Baumgart

j

N-Ten 2005 Boston Regional Conference: Advocating for New Technology

Sat, 22 Oct 2005 16:39:19 +0000

On Friday, I gave a case study at the Advocating for New Technology session of the N-Ten 2005 Boston Regional Conference: Enabling Technology Funding: Issues for Grantmakers and Grantseekers. Unfortunately, it’s not a case study I can share in detail on this weblog, but it deals with how I advocated for my office to begin using RSS feeds to distribute content.

There were only about twenty people at the session, so we arranged ourselves in an oval for the group talk. That was such a nice change from standing in front of an audience.

Most of the attendees deal with technology in non-profits in some way, like as in-house technogeeks or as consultants helping a non-profit address technology issues. I learned quite a bit from Eric Segal and Steve Backman, the other presenters, and the audience members.

Naava Frank, who along with Deborah Finn, helped organize and moderate the session, started off by observing “There is no science for advocating for technology.”

Eric Segal

“When and how to promote new technology” is more important sometimes than actually advocating for new technology.

What is the organization trying to accomplish? How does the technology map to that?

“We don’t know about the whole world, so we do the best we can,” when it comes to advocating for new technology and selecting new tools.

Knowing the whole organization is important.

The person at the foodbank giving out food is the person to enter data. Where is s/he going to do it? When is s/he going to do it? How is s/he going to do it? Why is s/he going to do it? If you can’t answer those questions, then don’t design the database.

Steve Backman

It’s important to know the organization’s goals before selecting a technological means. Some people choose a means without knowing what the goal is.

What is your role in regards to the project? We talked throughout the session about how we might think our role is pretty straightforward, but while working on a technological solution, we might also need to be a hand-holder, conselor, advocate for change, instructor, and more.

I began my case study by pointing out that in my situation, I felt like I was advocating for change in general as well as advocating for a new adoption of technology.

Here are some points and questions that came up during the discussion:

There’s often lots of ambiguity about decision makers. Who makes the final decision? Many times, the decision makers are the least tech savvy in an organization.

Sometimes someone in charge thinks everyone else thinks the way she does about technology.

If the executive director isn’t that engaged in it, it’s likely to fail. If he’s engaged and no one else is, it’s also likely to fail.

Staff adaptation of technology is often problematic.

Are these things technology problems or an organizational problem? Technology can’t alleviate all of the problems.

Fear is a big part of change. Breaking down fear is essential to moving projects forward.

Deborah: just walking around and talking to people can bring up all sorts of things. On her rounds around a company, she used to find people who wouldn’t complete a service/help request, but would say “Oh, while you’re here, could you … ”

How do you convince people that change is good?

Steve recommends The Secrets of Consulting by Gerald Weinberg.

What strategies have people implemented to alleviate people’s fear of technology? Deborah’s strategy: 90% is stress management and 10% is technology. Of the 90%, 90% should be listening and 10% should be talking.

Language is a barrier to promoting technology–if we talk technobabble and the other people on staff can’t understand us, we can’t advocate effectively.

Sometimes good advocators aren’t good communicators. Sometimes half of advocating is cleaning up from what someone else has done.