Exercise 16: last post - completing your assessment

Exercise 16

My blog exercises are now completed.
I have now:

1. Posted on my blog for each exercise.
2. Labelled each of my posts.
3. Inserted several images into many of my posts.
4. Embedded a video.
5. Invited one of my classmates, Linda, to be a reader of my blog.
6. Made a comment on two of Linda's blog posts.

Now I am finished, I am inspired to learn so much more!!!
Thanks for this opportunity to learn Maria........

Exercise: Investigative Exercise 8 - Current Awareness Post

Exercise:

Investigative Exercise 8  - Current Awareness Post 

I watched both of the suggested Youtube videos and found them great food for thought.

I was particularly fascinated by the first one, "Eli Pariser- Beware online "filter bubbles".

I think most of us are regularly surprised by the presumptuous fashion in which our computers behave whilst we use our search engines. I remember receiving advertising prompts from on-line accommodation companies for destinations I had previously booked to go to, for years after I had returned from those same places. 

Eli Pariser is similarly alarmed about how many search engine companies are tailoring 

individual search results via invisible algorithmic editing.

He spoke and showed examples of how two friends of his, had both "googled" the word,

"Egypt" and received vastly different results. 

He warned that "invisible algorithmic editing of the web" may "limit our exposure to new information and narrow our outlook."

He quoted that Google used 57 different signals from each individual, to determine what search results it would tailor for them. Some of these signals included the type of computer you used, the browser chosen, and the location you were in.

Eli is concerned that "the internet is showing us what it thinks we need to see, and not necessarily what we need to see".

He recognises a major shift in how information is flowing online nowadays. He sees "a struggle developing between our future aspirational selves and our more impulsive present selves". 

Eli made a final plea to those in charge of these massive internet companies to allow individuals more of a say and some control in determining what gets through our filters,

because "we really need the internet to be that thing that we all dreamed of it being. We need it to connect us all together, we need it to introduce us to new ideas and new people and different perspectives, and not leave us isolated in a web of one"!!!

Really interesting and incisive talk which gets all of us thinking!!

Blog Exercise 13– changing the arrangement of your blog

Blog Exercise 13– changing the arrangement of your blog.

I made numerous attempts at changing the makeup of my blog, and found that I liked it better in its' original manifestation!!
I did alter the labels, but even there I didn't seem to manage to make them do as I had hoped, and the tabs along the left hand side, "Title, Show, Sorting and Display", didn't seem to be accessible at all. 
I am sure I was doing something incorrectly, and have made a commitment to myself to spend some more time in the future learning more about the intricacies of Blogger!!
I thought about adding the "translate gadget"like my friend Linda, but thought that the blog looked too cluttered with this added on.
The gadget I really want to add in the future is AdSense so that I am able to earn revenue by displaying relevant ads, because no-one needs additional money more than me!!

Blog Exercise 14 – invite classmates as readers to your blog

Blog Exercise 14 – invite classmates as readers to your blog.




My invitee is Linda McGuire.
I hope that Linda enjoys viewing my blog, entitled:

Simon’s betwixt and between

Exercise: Blog Exercise 12– changing the colour/ background of your blog

Exercise: Blog Exercise 12– changing the colour/ background of your blog.

I had actually changed the background colour of my blog twice previously.
It has mostly been trial and error for me, as being a relatively inexperienced user, I kept trying different things until I found something I liked, or that was at least practical.
Initially I changed my blog's background to black, which worked nicely with bright photos and minimal script.
However, it was totally impractical once I started on the TAFE multimedia blog, so I changed it to a softer look, with lighter pastel colours, which seems more in keeping with the content.
The template I chose was the green and blue "Watermark" one.
However, after having a more thorough look, I decided to change my background to be more representative of libraries, and then found that the Watermark template I had did not allow you to see through to what was behind.
I then decided to change my template once again so that it blended in slightly better.
I chose one of the "Travel" templates.
I hope that the result seems appropriate to the people who really matter- the ones who read it!!
I was still unable to edit some of the initial posts I made, so some of the fonts and font backgrounds are still somewhat diverse.

Exercise: Blog Exercise 15– commenting on other blogs

Exercise: Blog Exercise 15– commenting on other blogs

I was very fortunate to be able to view Linda McGuire's blog, as it was beautifully presented and its' substance was thoroughly researched and all encompassing!
I particularly enjoyed reading about Linda's home area of Bega Shire, which is a part of N.S.W. I am quite unfamiliar with, but whose reputation leaves us dreaming of a lush, unspoiled paradise. Bega cheese and the like.....yum!!

   

I also enjoyed reading Linda's Current Awareness post about Eli Pariser's Youtube video, as this was the same one I chose. It was great to read a differing perspective to my own, but still recognise  that we were both rather stunned with the way these huge internet search engine companies like Google, are dictating what we should and shouldn't see. Very Orwellian........

Investigative Exercise 11 Recommendations.

Investigative Exercise 11 Recommendations.


Hurstville library thankfully, is far closer to me in geographic terms than is Kogarah, and Hurstville Library, Museum and Gallery have to a much greater degree, embraced 2.0 technologies and social media wholeheartedly.
Firstly they have their own interactive links to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Flickr. 
Secondly, they have a very interesting blog section on their website which hosts many fascinating feeds. Many of the blog posts focus on local community information, predominantly about the world of Arts. 

Information/Reference.


On the Hurstville LMG Facebook feed, there is a myriad of information available pertaining to the library,  as well as community events. At present there is information about  the 2014 Platform Urban Art Prize, which has an upcoming opening, the St George Art Awards exhibition, which is currently housed in the Hurstville Museum, and several events focused on local youth culture such as International Games Day on Saturday 15th November. Local youth spent hours jazzing up some of the library windows  using post-it notes in honour of the recently held games day. This is traditionally an event that everyone loves, especially the young and "young at heart" (haha) , and it seemingly grows in popularity every year.
Because Hurstville Library merged with the Museum and Gallery back in 2009, social  media provides the perfect platform for plenty of cross-promotion for each of these council utilities. Much of this promotion comes via the Facebook feed, but the library also utilises their Twitter page to publicise past, present and future events,
many of which foster strong ties with both the council and
the Hurstville community at large.


Teenage/Youth.

Most of the social media feeds from Hurstville LMG are tailored to appeal to the local youth.
Their Twitter link is a little similar to the Facebook feed, but there is plenty of encouragement for young people to be involved with one another.
The Show us your #bookface! campaign, they have strongly embraced via the live blog, and even more so on twitter and Facebook. The community relishes the opportunity to quietly compete with one another, the healthy rivalry creating a bond almost automatically.
When you see these types of feeds, it makes you realise just how much libraries without social media links miss out on.
There were also feeds from flickr, pinterest and several others.
This short, poignant style of engagement, far better appeals to younger people, who are often trying to juggle multiple roles within their lives for much of the time and consider their time very precious.

The freegal music resource is available for all members, but I'm sure that the popular demographic for users would be slanted to the 16-25 yo age bracket. Once logged in, you can search  the music catalogue for over 7 million songs from 28,000 labels, and then have the choice of downloading something. Or just sit back and enjoy several hours per week of free streaming, where you are able to listen to whole music albums in a single session, or watch the most up-to-date music videos, whatever your preference may be. 

With the alignment of the Museum and Art Gallery, the organisation ensures a focus on supporting, exhibiting and promoting the most talented young people that the local area has to offer. The St George area Art Awards have been running for the past few months and will continue through until almost the end of the year. Much of the cutting edge material entered, has been shown within the walls of the historic Museum and Art Gallery along with other unique exhibits, exciting and enchanting the local audience that come to see it. These and other youth-focused activities are constantly promoted interactively on the Facebook and twitter feeds.  



Children's.

The library has a host of interactive resources for the kids, but the majority of them are 
conducted in-house. They run many of these programs in conjunction with the Hurstville Museum and Gallery once again.
They have the usual reading clubs, kid's programmes, art workshops and book clubs, as well as on-line tutoring resources, much the same as you would expect to find in most council-run libraries.

ONLINE TUTORING

 

If you’re struggling with homework or assignment tasks, help is close at hand.

Your Tutor is a free online tutoring service for students from Year 4 through to Year 12. Subjects covered include Maths, English, Science (including Physics and Chemistry), Business Studies, Economics, Commerce, Study Skills and Assignment Research.

Your Tutor connects students with expert tutors for live learning sessions via the internet. Online tutoring is available Monday – Friday, from 4 pm-8 pm. Just login using your library card’s barcode.

They also have gaming sessions, once a week, for the 12 years and above.
The most interesting link they provide in their children's resources is to the Kids Own Australian Literature Awards Inc.(koala NSW) site, which provides further feeds to Facebook, Twitter and to their very own blog. 
This link is another example of Hurstville LMG's commitment to nurture local youth, understanding that the upcoming generations are the future lifeblood of any local library.
There is still evident, a resistance to recognising the potential for providing more 2.0 social media links to kid's resources on the most part, but I believe we will see this evolving in the near future.
There is still some way to go in most Australian libraries to catch up with the 2.0 technologies used in the US and parts of Europe, but this is mostly due to the difference in population. However,  libraries like Hurstville LMG are constantly making huge strides towards relative parity. 

Investigative Exercise 10 Evaluation

Investigative Exercise 10 Evaluation 

Kogarah Library Service is rather backward with its' use, or rather non-use of 2.0 technologies.
It is a little embarrassing to explore their retrograde website, and then realise that there is a total lack of engagement with the local community via any form of social media.
Both the library service and the community at large are missing out on so much because of this.
As I have only experienced firsthand the physical materials and resources contained within the branch library at South Hurstville, I was blissfully unaware of their ancient outlook on social media in general and their failure to integrate any 2.0 technologies into their website.
Obviously if you ever had the opportunity to work within the Kogarah Library service, this would be one of the first things you would want to change, if given even half a chance!
Some resources available on the Kogarah Council/Library website are quite concise and in depth, for example in their Family History & Local Studies section are some important resources including direct links to National Archives Australia, Index to shipping passengers arriving in Sydney, 1845-1922 (complete to 1894) , and death notices from 239 different Australian newspapers.  
However they are merely links- there is no opportunity provided  for the public to give or receive feedback, and there is no capacity for engagement or interactivity whatsoever.

The reasons behind the lack of 2.0 technologies is hard to fathom, as the benefits are so wide ranging, and the expense to set up these feeds almost non-existent. 
Libraries nowadays are using these tools for sharing news, marketing their services, providing information literacy instruction, providing information about print and digital resources, and soliciting feedback of users.
At Ann Arbor District Library (AADL) in Ann Arbor, Michigan, they have discovered that "not only do they have 46% of its district-population served holding library cards, but that they now have more than 20,000 registered users utilizing its Web site for library-related interaction and services".
Library 2.0 could be understood to have these four essential elements:

1. It is user-centered.
2. It provides a multi-media experience.
3. It is socially rich.
4. It is communally innovative.

Kogarah Library can ill afford to ignore the obvious advantages of utilising the full gambit of 
2.0 technologies available to it. The only plausible reason for not having already begun to embrace these social media tools, can be conservative management or lack of labour resources, but neither of these explanations seems adequate.
They do have some interesting Eresources for children, including World Book Encyclopedia online, Literacy Planet and the interactive "Tumble Books" , but there is little else to excite anyone.

One can only hope that some time in the very near future, Kogarah Library will begin to explore the possibilities of Library 2.0, thereby providing their local citizens with the opportunity to see, hear, interact and fully experience all the resources libraries are able to provide their citizens in the modern age. 

Investigative Exercise 9 Community Profiles

Investigative Exercise 9 Community Profiles

Kogarah Library service 

With over 41% of Kogarah Council area residents being born overseas, and the majority from non-English speaking backgrounds, there is a huge emphasis on foreign language materials and resources within the libraries in this council area.
There are three libraries in total, with the main one being in Kogarah, and branch libraries in Oatley and South Hurstville. There are large collections of non-English language books, magazines, CD's and DVD's, along with many other foreign language resources.
The country with the highest ancestry representation within this area is China.
For this reason Chinese language resources in both Mandarin and Cantonese, dominate the foreign language sections of all three libraries.
Despite the large percentage of retirees living within this area, and the correspondingly lower than average amount of families with young children, there are still great resources for younger people at all three libraries within the Kogarah Council area.

Kogarah Council website

Kogarah demographics

Exercise: Investigative Exercise 7 Podcasts

Exercise: Investigative Exercise 7 Podcasts

I chose the below podcast from the National Library of Australia website.
It is entitled, "In Conversation: Holy Fool by Michael Leunig"
Michael Leunig is one of our greatest and best loved political cartoonists/satirists.
He speaks here to ABC journalist Louise Maher, in front of a live audience at the National Library, regarding his new book, "Holy Fool: Artworks", which is a collection of 240 of his artworks.
The podcast was originally published on the 18th November, 2013.
It is in mp3 audio format and runs for 44.14 minutes.

I love Michael's work so this was an easy choice for me to make.
Michael speaks initially of how he was convinced to do the book, as it is far removed from his usual style and format.
He decided to produce an "artbook" as he was "sick of the artworld's preciousness and exclusivity".
He found much of it "toxic and alienating". He wanted to show and remind people of the sheer
"joy of painting", and reassure them that "it's okay to play".
He speaks of his disappointment in the artworld's rigidity, and the tedium it provokes in him.
"Holy Fool" was produced as a reaction to this. A "holy fool" to Michael, is a person like St Francis, who talked to animals, but he stressed that holy did not necessarily translate to being religious in any traditional sense.
He wanted to emphasize the eccentric nature in humanity, the innocent, vulnerable and childlike quality present in all people, and their sincerity, which is so often repressed by the need for conformity within society.
These are the innate traits of the "holy fool" to Michael, and something which we need to
reacquaint ourselves with, and to nurture within ourselves as it is still there within all of us,
but generally hidden away and stifled. 
It was a fascinating interview and left everyone wanting more!

Michael Leunig Podcast 

Assessment task: Investigative Exercise 6 Social Bookmarking

Assessment task: Investigative Exercise 6 Social Bookmarking.


The two reviews available for the book, "Born or Bred? Martin Bryant: the making of a mass murderer", on the State Library of Tasmania's website, are very useful in that they provide an interesting synopsis into the book's content, and help the reader to judge whether the book is a worthwhile read or not.
With only two reviews provided on this site in over five years since the book was first published, crime book aficionados may well want to seek out further reviews provided on sites such as Goodreads and independent newspapers, such as the Sydney Morning Herald, to gain a better perspective.
The "book reviews" section available on the Clarence Regional Library website is an excellent resource, provided by a regional library service. There are over 440 book reviews and ratings provided on this site, the diversity of which are quite astounding.
However, as the majority of reviews are written by amateurs, the quality and content differs greatly, and most are only peripheral at best.
Having said this and despite the fact that the reviews and ratings are relatively subjective, this resource provides a wonderful opportunity for the predominantly local community to voice their opinions in the public arena. I am sure that in such a tight-knit society, much mirth must be enjoyed by people reading some of their friends and neighbours' reviews!
I think that these types of services are essential resources for libraries to provide, as so much information nowadays needs to be provided in an online format for people. It is also not always feasible to expect that library employees will have the available time to provide these types of insights face-to-face in the library environs itself.
To be able to arrive at the library armed with at least some information obtained prior, will always prove to be beneficial in saving both time and effort.
Unfortunately, Hurstville Library, Museum and Gallery's website does not appear to offer a similar resource on their website, and the only reviews on their Facebook page pertain solely to the utilities themselves. 
However they do offer access for members to a multitude of research databases including some resources like Bowker GBIP, which  provides full text reviews and bibliographic information to English language books, videos and also audio cassettes.

                                                  Hurstville LMG database link

Many of the other suburban libraries like Waverley Library, also have links within their databases to resources such as AustLit, which provides access to large archives of critical  articles, reviews and surveys by Australian literature scholars, predominantly relating to significant Australian authors, their works and other general literary subjects.
All of these resources are integral tools for the library user, and add greatly to the worth of each individual library website.

Investigative Exercise 5 Social Networking.

Investigative Exercise 5 Social Networking

Firstly by utilizing social media, particularly sites like Facebook, libraries are able to free up some of the limited space they have on their own websites. 

In order to attract new clients, especially from among the younger generations, it is integral that modern libraries communicate to them in formats they understand and utilize on a daily basis. 

Without new members libraries cannot continue to sustain themselves.

Nowadays in the U.S. most libraries have an affiliation with Facebook and many other social media sites, particularly those aligned with or located in collegiate regions. Social media is a wonderful tool for helping to create a sense of community among students, a recent survey conducted by the Public Library Association of America found that approximately 96% of tertiary level students use Facebook. This same organisation has  public forums  on its' Facebook page.

Libraries can use social networking sites to publicize library events such as gaming nights, special events such as book launches, or to alert users to additions to collections, along with providing links to articles of interest, videos, or even web content that might prove relevant or helpful to patrons.

Social media can also play an important role in fostering relationships with the community by allowing patrons to ask questions or provide feedback about library services, along with providing information pertaining to co-operative events held in conjunction with the community itself.

Libraries are now able to provide a conduit for community information, and thereby increase their relevance and connection with society in general. This is why libraries using sites such as Facebook are advantageously placed to appeal to a far broader demographic, than those libraries who do not.

Nowadays, rather than relying on Facebook to be a static, information-only portal, successful libraries use it to hook people in, engaging with them on a more personal level. For a library, their Facebook page must be all about good communication.

My local library in Hurstville, which is affiliated with Hurstville Museum and Gallery, is a great example of how they are using Facebook, as well as other social media sites, to help publicise and promote a whole range of exhibitions, resources, public events and programmes that not only benefit the entire community, but also attract a host of prospective new members who otherwise may never have even known of these public utilities, let alone visit them. 

                                                                

Hurstville LMG Facebook link

Investigative Exercise 4. Youtube

Investigative Exercise 4. Youtube
Nancy Pearl

This is a role play interview with one female student playing the role of Nancy Pearl and a male student portraying Allan Sillitoe.

In particular, the interview focuses on Sillitoe's book, "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner", which was published in 1959, and won the Hawthornden Prize in the same year.

The book, which is essentially a collection of short stories, was so well received that it was turned into a film in 1962.

The interview covers many of the book's themes, such as loneliness, isolation, rejection, and most especially, the suffocation of working class life in post-war England and their parallels with Sillitoe's life itself.

The interview also touches on

Sillitoe's role as part of the Angry Young Men movement, which articulated a sense of lost identity felt by many of the lower class at this time. This loss often manifested itself as anger and epitomized the stereotype of gender specific roles in society.