The QR Qid

Intrigued by the Module 3 article on QR codes, I approached the director with an idea to test their effectiveness and fun in a library branch. While the article we read regarding QR codes did not show much promise for their potential in a library setting, I think the authors took the wrong approach. Mobile devices are not designed for the research they were hoping to encourage. Mobile devices are much better as quick hit/tidbit information providers. We'll test these QR codes in our main branch, highlighting author information - much as one might see in a museum where below the paintings is a brief description of the painting or small blurb of the artist. If there is any feedback with these we will expand QR usage to include any number of items - from movie trailers, to fun facts, to video interviews, etc. There seems a great deal of potential for fun and good patron relations with QR codes. It will be interesting to see how the public responds to them and how staff come up with interesting ideas in how to use them.


Creating a QR code is very simple. I went to http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ and had to create a username and password and provide an email address. It took less than a minute. Once I had access it was as simple as entering a preferred URL and hitting Create Code and the code immediately appeared. I chose dynamic over static as dynamic allows for the URL to be changed at any time while preserving the one created QR code. Static is a one code for one site only permanent link.


It took another couple minutes to find a QR reader through Google Play. I choses the QR Android app as it had over 10 million downloads and had overwhelming positive reviews. Using the app from my smartphone I was able to scan the newly created QR code from my desktop display. I could see these being super handy as another kind of bookmarking tool, but the bookmarking tools we already use are sufficient.

Joomla Experience

https://jbwillard.demojoomla.com/


I really, really enjoyed this assignment when I had adequate time to work on it.


That is detailed in my previous post and will not be rehashed any further here.


The Joomla 7505 assignment was terrifically rewarding. Even if my results weren't what I had anticipated or hoped for, I am still very excited and energized by having learned a new interface. I'm eager to spend more time with Joomla on something I can really sink my teeth in to. I am not sure what that is yet.


The videos are invaluable. I can't speak for students who had issues getting underway and had problems with extensions. Thankfully, I didn't experience any of that. If I had run into early troubles I suspect the enthusiasm I had for Joomla today and throughout the week would be much different. A character flaw of mine is that I am quickly discouraged if things start poorly. Joomla started wonderfully.


I watched the first ten or so videos before starting my work. They were concise and clear. And short. The presenter, Brian Teeman, made Joomla look easy. I settled on a ridiculous plan of combining two of my great loves; Eric Cartman, who I continue to outgrow as I mature as an adult, and surfing which will always be my Winnie Cooper. I followed Teeman's instructions and installed both the JCE and the Akeeba extensions before doing anything else. Here I should also mention that, had I known my name would be a prominent part of my URL I would have been more thoughtful with my Joomla demo registration information.


I had already sketched out what I wanted to do so I made my categories and articles in quick succession rather than follow Teeman’s more patient approach. I'm not an artist or designer so my pages were mostly bland and dated. Also, I learned early on, but after many hours and attempts and too late to change my website idea, that I likely wasn't going to be able to embed multiple live streaming videos. This was a disappointment because this effect was the whole reason for my silly Cartman/surfing idea.


I followed Teeman's 4.4 "Blog Page" video to the letter. When I watched it the first time I paid little attention because I did not think I would bother with a products page. I am glad I did. It is probably the best page on the site. Obtaining and using another surf site's original content (which took a fair amount of time and effort) proved very rewarding. I also took advantage of the contact page instructions.


The article options and template style videos did not reveal much. I had been having fits trying to find a way to get rid of a template banner that was in my way. Finally I realized that if I deleted the image file that made up the banner and renamed my own image with the same banner name Joomla would go looking for the file name and post whatever was there. After many hours of bafflement I was proud of my small revelation. I deleted the file "joomla-semple-header" from my Joomla images. Imported an image file that I wanted into Joomla and simply renamed it "joomla-semple-header". It's a limited solution but it worked for me.


I updated my extensions early on. I investigated extensions and modules adding a few to improve the functionality of my site (the aforementioned search module, which I delimited in Options, for example). I adjusted the menu location a few times before settling on horizontal. I applied various headers. I attempted to add a slide show but the program Teeman used in his video (6.4), Responsive CSS3 Slider, would not come up during a Joomla Extension search. I found RCSS3 IN Joomla, but it wanted to download to my computer:


(http://extensions.joomla.org/profile/extension/photos-a-images/slideshow/responsive-css3-slider).


I did not have the time nor the expertise to figure out how to integrate this into my site.


I changed the website name in Global Settings, played with various templates, added a language extension, modified the global colors of the site, added a search field and messed about with a few other barely noticeable baubles. I tweaked the background and template color properties. I added expiration and removal dates to all my events posts. I used and modified various fonts, headers, and image properties throughout the small site and created 17 external and 10 internal links site wide.


I created six menu items, six categories, including one sub-category (News & Media > Events), and 13 articles. I added, edited, and imported over 20 image files. I learned how to manipulate the menu order via drag and drop, use the ?tp=1 treasure map, use blog options and a host of other Joomla tricks. There is still a lot that I did not discover and ideas that I overlooked. However, all in all, I am happy with the progress I have made with Joomla and excited to play with it further.

 

Joomla...Day Last

Well, you might have noticed that I skipped a few, what should have been, daily Joomla updates.

Oh, who am I kidding, no one noticed. :)

Initially I was very much on top of this assignment. I had half the videos and the corresponding work finished as early as Wednesday. Then the little man got sick and that set me back a day. It feels pretty selfish spending time in one's office when the wife has had a sick and fussy baby all day. So, Thursday night (after work) it was all baby.

Friday surprised me. When I got home from work the wife was exhausted and the little guy was coughing, upset, angry, and crying crying crying. The wife needed the rest of the night off and she got it. Nothing Joomla wise on Friday.

Saturday might have been a great day for working. I'll never know. I had  penciled in eight hours for Joomla, treating it like a work day. Our son had other ideas. On top of not sleeping it was a constant wail. Well, not constant, but enough to FEEL constant. We had never seen this before. An almost completely inconsolable child. Cold, flu, teething, growing pains, we still don't know. I took him for an early morning walk in the park, more for the wife's sanity than anything. He always likes moving, but even there he was unhappy....

Look, I'm just gonna stop right here and cut to the chase. It will sound like excuse making, but it isn't. I got the assignment finished after all. But the truth is our beautiful and sweet and funny and gentle little boy brought two grown adults to their knees. Sure, I could have just told the wife that I MUST work! And let her deal with the kid. But, well, I'm not a jerk. And I knew how much he could wear me out in just in an hour or two after work. She has him all day. Today, Monday, has seen him almost back to his former self. The better half took charge as is her wont and SHE did the insisting - that I work and get the website finished. Little man is stumbling about (he took his first steps 10 days ago) like a giddy moron with no idea what he has just put us through.

If my website is lacking, and it is. And if my replies to Module 2 were lacking, and they were. Please, think but this and all is mended, that you have but slumber'd...while the wife and I did not. For three freakin' days!! :)

Cheers, friends.

Antico Inverno...e poi la nebbia

Desiderio delle tue mani chiare                Desire of your hands, white
nella penombra della fiamma;                  in the penumbra of the flame;
sapevano di rovere e di rose;                   they had the smell of oakwood and of roses;
di morte. Antico inverno.                          of death. Ancient winter.
Cercavano il miglio gli uccelli                   The birds were searching for grain
ed erano subito di neve;                           and were suddenly of snow;
così le parole.                                           so with words.
Un po' di sole, una raggera d'angelo,       A little sun, an angel's glory
e poi la nebbia; e gli alberi,                       and then the mist; and the trees,
e noi fatti d'aria al mattino.                        and ourselves made of air in the morning.

Antico Inverno ~ Salvatore Quasimodo

Joomla ~ Day 3

Joomla is going well. I'm  a bit behind due to Doc McFussin's being under the weather. But the step by step video instructions are great and I should have the assignment done with some small time to spare. I'm vacillating between doing a personalized and fun Joomla site, a bland dummy site, or a library centric site. Being the moron I am such inconsequential indecision (or consequential if I DON'T decide) might be what derails me. The point of the assignment is to learn Joomla, not to get too cute with what we do with it. Still, it'd be fun to have something interesting and goofy utilizing numerous plugins and techniques.

It may end up all lorem ipsum dolor sit amet... 

We'll see.

Joomla ~ Day 2: Maymester and the Wee Fat Baby

Yesterday and last night our little man was sick for the first time in his brief life. Nothing at all serious. But enough to take up me and the wife's free time. He made it to 11 months before his first illness so we've been lucky so far. No complaints on that front.

However, what a sick little dude in the house does is occupies nearly every waking moment. My initial enthusiasm and set-aside time for Joomla was preempted by our taking care of him, keeping him cool, carrying him around and making him comfortable.

It brought out the best in both of us when that isn't always the case with a little one in the house. :)

He's feeling better today so hopefully after work I'll have some time to resume Joomla.

If it's a choice between Joomla and the wee fat one, the wee fat one will win every time.

Joomla ~ Day 1

Finding other MLIS 7505 blogs on-line shows many frustrated students. Many didn't like the Joomla part of their Maymester. It's tempting to take a selfish day or two off after completing all the work assigned for the first few days. NAH! Bollocks to all that kinda barmy brain talk.

Keep pounding away, I say.

Early in day one Joomla shows it could turn out to be fun. The instructional videos are proving invaluable so far. Taking time to patiently watch each one with an open mind is taking almost all of the fear and intimidation out of it. Having an English bloke who co-founded Joomla leading the instruction helps too. Probably a good idea to take his advice and watch the first view videos before jumping in prematurely.

I'm not the biggest Microsoft Windows fan, but I love them for moments like these for introducing the SNAP dual screen feature that others have since adopted. It really makes following along and plinking along to video instructions so much easier.

If anyone is reading this and is a bit unnerved by the prospect of website building, don't be. Take a deep breath, close out the world and take the time to watch the videos. And not just watch them but give them your attention. It'll work out.

Buona Fortuna!!

Six Days Down, Sixteen To Go

Well, the MLIS7505 class is going better than expected. Dr. Yang is responsive and helpful. While there is a lot of work it is manageable if one stays on top of it. First session saw the class create twitter accounts, establish blogs, and outline designs for library-centric wikis. In addition, classmates formulated questions and answers for one another and shared ideas in a wide-ranging and thoughtful exchange prompted by various social media journal readings.

All in all I dare say the beginning of this Maymester class has been fun. It is all a matter of putting in time each day, doing the readings, and keeping up. Next section hints at using Joomla which I have not used and understand drives students in this course crazy. So, I'm enjoying this week and getting geared up for what is coming.

Sixteen days to go.

Twitter Users Are the Real Innovators

I learned a pretty fascinating thing about Twitter today. The @user_name function that allows Twitter users to reply to a specific message or a specific users was designed BY users.

Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, in a Ted Talk back in 2009, revealed that it wasn't part of the original platform. That is was users who came up with the solution. Williams also modestly confides that they did not anticipate how Twitter would be used to cover real-time events like breaking news stories.

It's an interesting (and brief) inside look into how users were and responsible for much of Twitter's evolution. 

http://www.ted.com/talks/evan_williams_on_listening_to_twitter_users

Oh Wiki You're So Fine...

Assignment I, Part III ~ It's a wiki dummy! No...no it's not. It's a dummy wiki.

GOAL

The goal of the wiki being developed is as a staff only hub for employees of the Cobb County Public Library System (CCPLS). The primary purpose of the wiki is to provide both full and part-time staff a single, comprehensive location to address and answer as many foreseeable staff questions and concerns one might have in the event their desired information (or a direct answer) is unavailable to them.

WIKIMATRIX

Upon using wikimatrix it is determined that the service Wetpaint will be a suitable program for creating the CCPLS wiki. Wetpaint is a free, hosted, WYSIWYG website building interface that offers the kind of barebones options required of the CCPLS wiki. Because this is an internal, staff only wiki controlled by a small team of administrators, such things as corporate branding, specific domains, commercial support and page history recovery are unimportant.

FOCUS

Primarily the wiki is being designed as an internal memo sheet, orientation resource, employee handbook, FAQ and newsletter all in one. It will be a one stop shop for library staff. The wiki will include such information as county policies for employees, library policies for employees and library policies for the public that staff are expected to know and relate to patrons. Also included in the wiki will be general information staff might need regular reminders on like the addresses and hours of operation among the different branches, an employee phone and email list for contacting certain staff in certain situations and an FAQ that answers as many common staff questions as possible. Staff would be sought for help with the FAQ. Further, the wiki would contain links to all internal and external documents a library uses like patron application sheets, damaged item forms, vacation request forms, public meeting room request sheets, mileage report sheets, etc. Much of the information in the wiki will necessarily duplicate information that is available to the public (ie. locations, hours and patron policies). This does not diminish the wisdom of having a specific destination for staff. Redundancy in this way can only help to improve a staff member’s knowledge and information recall.

PARTICULARS

Another facet of the wiki will be a more dynamic news and alerts bulletin. Staff can access this area of the wiki for information on activities and programs that are occurring, not just within the library system, but throughout the county they work for. Here staff will find information on new job opportunities, new hires, retirements, library board decisions, budget information, technological implementations, etc.

Necessarily, the wiki will not be accessible remotely and will only be available when working on the library’s private staff network. The ultimate goal is to create a defined series of links and pages, some static, some constantly updated (by a Library Director nominated team of administrators), that library staff will reflexively seek out if they have any question or need affirmation about any and every area of library business. What is the dress code? Consult the wiki. How many items can a patron circulate at one time? Consult the wiki. What are my benefits? Consult the wiki. Who do I call for a computer problem? Consult the wiki. The only thing the wiki will not be able to answer (or be immediately updated to answer) will be the web address of the wiki. Per this assignment, I too do not know the answer to that question.

WIKIMATRIX RESULTS

1. Page History: This is not required because the wiki will not be publically available or editable.

2. WISIWYG: This is preferred for ease of use.

3. Support: Commercial support is not needed as this is an internal wiki.

4. Interface Language; While library staff speak a combined 21 different languages they all speak English brilliantly. Therefore, no localization is necessary.

5. Hosting: The wiki does not require special controls or local plugins. Nor does the wiki object to outside advertising that pays for hosting. Hosting is preferred over housed.

6. Domain: No specific domain is needed. The link is the most important item, regardless of what that link is.

7. Branding: Wiki is an internal entity. Corporate branding is superfluous and not needed.

26 Wikis matched this criteria. Wetpaint was chosen for its ease of use, up front presentation, free hosting costs and malleability.

Web 3.0 Circa 2007 - Eric Schmidt as Nostradamus

It shouldn't be a shock that Eric Schmidt, a man on the ground floor at Google, would have some clairvoyance of what was to come in the way of technological innovations. But this video from 2007 that's part of our Module 1 class materials was still really interesting. When asked about future innovations and the burgeoning shift to something seemingly amorphous called "Web 2.0", Schmidt distills it down to exactly our experience today. Again, this was eight years ago. In the video Schmidt describes Web 2.0 as something where "applications are pieced together, relatively small, data is in the cloud, applications can run on any device (PC or phone), are very fast and very customizable and furthermore are distributed virally, by social networks, by email...that's a very different application model than we've ever seen in computing...and works everywhere."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0QJmmdw3b0

Now, I grant that I am still a bit confused because Schmidt seems to initially dismiss the idea of "Web 3.0" as something the journalist just invented and then begins discussing "Web 2.0". When he later mentions "Web 3.0" I am not sure if he misspeaks or grants the questioner his premise.

Either way, it is a very interesting bit of insight from a time where even the camera filming this event provides quality that looks straight from the 80's and only appears in youtube as 240p. Whatever Schmidt is referring to here - Web 2.0 or 3.0 he absolutely nails what was right around the corner.

hello...

Hi everyone...anyone?

My name is John Willard. I am in my second semester in the MLIS program at Valdosta State University. I have worked for the Cobb County Public Library System for 13 years with 10 of those years in a managerial capacity in the Technical Operations unit. I have experience in many areas of library service, including circulation, reference work, customer service and material processing, as well as computer and IT support. However, I remain embarrassingly incurious about much regarding Web 2.0 technologies. This stems mostly from being a bit of an introvert or seldom having anything interesting or intriguing to share. Outside of Facebook and a brief foray into Twitter there is a great deal that I must learn to be an effective librarian in this quickly evolving 2.0 environment. I definitely see the value of Web 2.0 implementation to librarianship and am excited to expand my horizon(s) in this area through Valdosta State and 7505. I just hope I didn't get in over my head.

Best of luck everyone. And please excuse the mess around here. This blog will be under constant construction.

All the best! - john