Sunday, May 10, 2009

Wow!

So here we are, about 24 hours before the start of our last class of the semester. I really enjoyed this course - I felt we almost always had healthy discussions IRL (in real life) and there were some absolutely terrific blog posts that popped up here and there. Librarian as educator should be a given - I'm not sure everyone in the profession would agree with that, but this class has convinced me. Considering new technologies as teaching tools was time well spent.

I appreciated the fact that we could actually apply the ideas/theories/questions that were floating around from discussions and readings into a real lesson plan. The project that Nicole, Jessie, Jess and I created is one that I'd actually like to use in my professional career! I wish we had begun the projects sooner - maybe even have the groups made at the beginning of the course. It was such a tangible way to drive concepts home. :)

I hope our presentation goes well tomorrow and I had a lot of fun listening to everyones reactions to the readings and discussions. Thanks for a great class everyone, I mean it! :)

Thursday, April 23, 2009

YouTubs

I remember the first thing I watched on youtube. My friend Dennis posted a link on facebook - Jay Leno talking to dumb people on the street. haha. I remember laughing and being impressed at the speed it loaded. That was only four years ago, and no one knew (maybe the creators hoped) how huge it would become.

I think it's interesting that the first video I saw was something from a major television network. Not being an aspiring actor or director, I didn't see the potential of this new medium. I pretty much figured itd be a neat way to watch tv and movies for free. It's true that youtube is a place to look for clips of moments from hollywood, but by and large, it's known now for user-generated content. From a little kid in the back of a car drugged out from a trip to the dentist to a comedic song about shoes you tube is all about the people (who have some kind of camera).

You could even be entertained for an hour simply reading the comments on popular videos, as they range from non sequiter to absolutely offensive. Youtube became an indispensable way to listen to a music video and find that funny clip from your favorite stand up - but it also became a place to post your political opinion, cute dog in an outfit dancing around, comedy sketch show, fox jumping on a trampoline, and any other event you want to audio-visually broadcast to the internet world.

I have to leave with one of my most watched youtubes, which I'm not even sure I think is funny anymore.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Creative Commons



A week or two ago, the monthly Knowledge Seminars at Brooklyn Public Library welcomed Fred Beneson, Outreach Manager of Creative Commons. Our presenter on Monday briefly showed us the Creative Commons website, a great resource to search for media that lends itself to be reused and/or remixed. Definitely check it out while looking for music to use on your podcasts.

"Creative Commons provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. You can use CC to change your copyright terms from "All Rights Reserved" to "Some Rights Reserved."

It was pretty awesome to hear Fred speak about what it is Creative Commons actually does. This licensing is an alternative to the rigid copyright laws made in yesteryear. How do you know if you're allowed to post a photo online? Well, if it's under a Creative Commons license, with the only condition being attribution, you're free to post that picture up as long as you plop the persons name or username alongside it, giving credit. You might have seen this option to set your photos to if you use flickr.

A bit more on all the conditions, taken from the Creative Commons Website:

Attribution
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work — and derivative works based upon it — but only if they give credit the way you request.
Share Alike
You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work.
Noncommercial
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work — and derivative works based upon it — but for noncommercial purposes only.
No Derivative Works
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it.


Librarians need to understand the basics of copyright, and in doing so, we'll probably be looking for an alternative to it. Whether we're making content (blogs, websites, etc) or consulting someone else who is, these licenses are free and a fab way to share!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Our lesson plan is coming along

The end of the semester is creeping up, and our lesson plan is slowly but surely developing. My group consists of Jessie G, Jess S, Nicole G, and myself. We've been using a wikispace as a forum to keep track of our ideas and submit feedback. It's a great tool, but only if you use it! Last week, we all agreed to post stuff up there..and none of us found the time to make good on that. Working face to face last night after class did bear fruit - perhaps another testimony to our reactions to certain mediums. :)

It might have been just Monday night brain freeze, but we were having some trouble sorting our goal and objectives. Our approach to this lesson is as a public librarian who is doing a series of outreach sessions to a middle school Social Studies class. The particular plan we're working on would probably follow a preliminary visit where an overview of the library is given and students are signed up for cards. The point of this lesson is to make students more aware of sponsored messages - using a lesson in messages in pop culture - to impart a skill and thought process that will hopefully be transferable to research.

What we have so far:

Goal:
-Students will develop an eye towards sponsored messages and an understanding of library resources

Objectives:
-Students will be able to differentiate between authority and accuracy
-Students will gain familiarity with public library resources
-Refining research skills
-Use pop culture/real world application


Does that goal make sense? It is not a good idea to split it into two? After all though, the point of the outreach in general is to drum up foot traffic to the library and expose the students to the resources available to them. But the point of the specific lesson is to consider sponsorship of the information that one is confronted with in commercials and ads - and hopefully, beyond (transfer). Are we dancing around the right terminology? Are we making it to broad? Are objectives supposed to be specific and measurable? Let me know what you think about our idea so far! :-P

Sunday, April 5, 2009

blog skip

skip

Thursday, March 26, 2009

wikease

My junior year of college, I found quite an amusing letter in the school newspaper -

( from http://media.www.signal-online.net/media/storage/paper771/news/2006/03/29/Editorial/Letters-1762285.shtml Issue date: 3/29/06 Section: Editorial )

Don't believe Wikipedia's lies

I was very impressed with Shaina Basile's Opinion article in the last issue of The Signal, in which she called Cindy Sheehan "despicable" and "an insult to (her) son's memory."

I was particularly intrigued with the fact that Basile credits all of the facts in the article as having been retrieved at wikipedia.org, an open-source encyclopedia which anyone can edit.

However, I came across something most perplexing while exploring this bastion of factual information known as Wikipedia.

Upon visiting the site, you'd be astonished to realize that according to one of the site's anonymous authors, Shaina Basile herself is "an influential member of the liberal anti-war feminist grassroots movement Code Pink" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaina_Basile).

She also has a "deep admiration" for Cindy Sheehan, whom she frequently works beside at grassroots anti-war events.

I found this astonishing, considering Basile just recently penned an article attacking Sheehan. Perhaps an open-source encyclopedia that any pre-teen with Internet access can edit is not the most reliable source of information for articles that are to be published in newspapers.

Chris Zimbaldi


The article that Chris linked to has since been deleted. While that is a pretty shady(and hilarious) way of getting a point across - one can guess Shana approaches information found onwikipedia in a much different manner.

We all know that wikipedia gives us some quick answers, that it is sprinkled with good facts (and tampered ones), that it is NOT an option for a source on anything but a question that popped into our heads (or to familiarize ourselves on something)...but not everyone else does...not even college students!

I never forgot this, because I thought it was hilarious (and I ended up meeting Chris the next year). What a great example of the need for CRITICAL LITERACY! For the need of research skills! For school and public librarianship that steps up when technology like wikipedia steps in.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

skip

skippin' this week.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

lessonplan

I have absolutely no idea what I want to focus on for the lesson plan project. No idea! That's why I waited so long to blog, I was hoping something would hit me before now. But nope. All I can do is list my requirement for the lesson plan:
-appropriate for Teens at a public library (more specifically my teens)
-not boring

I think something using digital cameras might be attractive...that's something my teens can easily share with friends through facebook or text messages. Seriously though, just not sure exactly what can come out of that.

I'm gonna look around your blogs for some inspiration - you guys usually don't dissapoint!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

media literacy education in libraries

This past week, NYC public schools were closed. Our branch was teeming with kids, many of them with a biographical paper on a historic African-American due this upcoming Monday. Each day, at least one kid came up to me while on the reference desk and asked for help locating materials. What a perfect opportunity to drop some media literacy knowledge! Wooooo.

So, instead of just getting them a book about Rosa Parks, I asked them to let me show them our Articles & Databases. Since I'd say the majority were 5th graders, many weren't familiar. Here is a typographical re-enactment of how a conversation would go -

Little Carlos: I need a book on Rosa Parks
Me: Are you doing a report? What grade? How many pages? etc.
Carlos: The teacher said I have to use one book
Me: OK cool. I can get you a book in a minute, but why don't you pull up that chair and I can show you some more really helpful resources the library has for you. You have a couple minutes?
Carlos: Um..I guess..
Me: You know wikipedia?
Carlos: Yeah!
Me: Yeah we're not using wikipedia. I could log on right now and change what the wiki article on Rosa Parks says...and say that she was born on Saturn and was half-unicorn and was the most famous chef in King Arthur's Time. Because anyone can make a website...so just because you see it online, that doesn't mean it's ture
Carlos: (this girl is weird...)
Me: So the library subscribes to a bunch of different databases that compile information from magazines, newspapers, papers that college professors write...and puts them online.
*goes to website and walks through the process of getting to the databases click by click*
So here we are at Wilson Web's Biographical Index thing. This looks kinda familiar right? Looks a little like google? Well it works like google, except its only searching the articles included on this site. The things we'll find will have authors and will have been edited and researched and factchecked, and on a regular website, we aren't always sure that that is the case.
Carlos: Oh ok yeah.
Me: So let me write down the steps for you to get to this database so you can DIY.
Carlos: Emily you're the coolest and best librarian ever.
*Scene*

It might not be possible to gather every kidlet in an urban public library setting and make them sit while you talk about the importance of being critical thinkers when it comes to finding information. But it is easy enough to jump on it when an opportunity like this comes up. Carlos might think twice now the next time he sees something on wikipedia or elsewhere, and possibly might consult a database to back up whatever answer he finds.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Our medium discussion

So...what is a medium exactly? Suki, Jennifer, Laurie, Andrea and I all sat down to figure it out. A medium is a delivery mechanism for content. Different mediums mean a change in how that medium is delivered, and this is how I will illustrate that.

Mediums, from old to new.

1. Face to face. You heard about the fires in Australia by coming into direct contact with someone who experienced it, or who heard about it directly from someone else. This would probably be in short bits, because it's not easy to memorize chunks and chunks of information. Someone would likely get distorted (ever play the telephone game?)

2. Print. A headline would come out about the Australian fires and be printed in newspaper. Any retraction would be printed in a later paper somewhere in the back. In the first week, a lenghtly magazine article might appear, and maybe even an in-depth book a year or two later. All possibly containing pictures of the fires and the destruction they've caused. Focused on facts. Contacts of where to donate money would be made available.

3. TV. Interviews with victims, experts..anyone involved might be shown on tv. Maps, videos, commentary...television offers a quick and visually stimulating look at the situation, where interested parties could hear the words directly from the mouths of the victims and experts, likely hearing the emotion in their voice and seeing the emotion in their faces. Contacts of where to donate would be made available. Information is only visible to those who caught that particular news program.

4. Internet. Since both print and tv are available online, one can expect to get the story in both of those terms. In addition, commentary, in the form of text or youtube response, is an option. One can start a website to take in donations, make a direct desposit to an organization working to help victims. One might even be able to post directly on a memorial page to wish families the best. Incredibly interactive.

If the internet can do pretty much everything that the other mediums can do, what, if anything, will keep them around? Is there something intrinsic about a book that will safeguard it as a medium and keep it around for generations to come? I think that's a crazy question, one that I never would have asked growing up. But I think in today's techno temperature, it's a completely valid one. Thoughts? And remember, just because you like to curl up with a good book doesn't mean the next generation does. They might end up curling up with whatever the next Twilight is on their laptop...

Friday, February 6, 2009

critical librarian's practice

Some assumptions of the future based on readings for the class-

-'typographic' literacy is being replaced by video game/multimedia literacy. magazines, books, music, and movies are all becoming available online
--> because of this, print will slowly fade away...physical copies of dvds and cds will have much less a presence. the library will be loaning out digital material.

-there is a digital divide
--> not everyone will have access to new technologies. not everyone will know how to use them.

-more and more learning, socializing, and 'living' is done online/on a cell/on various video game systems. public space is shrinking.
--> people will be lonelier. they need a place to be comfortable and socialize without having to buy something.

-based on census data reviewed by my Cultural Diversity & Libraries class: the 'nuclear family' is done. many families are headed by two working parents or one working parent. children need a safe place to go after school. libraries that close at 6pm on weeknights will not see many working parents.

Using these assumptions, it is absolutely critical that public libraries change their historic focus of being depositories if they want to be useful, used, and funded. If books dvds and cds fall to the wayside, what can a librarian do to support the population?

-instruction. literacy for new computer programs, systems, websites... how to get borrow the latest batman movie from the library onto your iphone. the majority of people who use the latest tech tools do not know how to use them to the fullest. librarians as educators.

-programming. give people something to do together! whether it be a community garden, movie nights, wii gaming, book discussion, concerts, theater...libraries need to act more as a community center. after all, if all our materials are available online, why would anyone come in? people who work, play, and shop from their pdas and computers have a need for a public space that offers socializing. sometimes second life just doesn't cut it. libraries as community centers

-accessible public space. the shape of american families is changing! kids are looking for something to occupy their time after school. working parents will be unavailable to use library space. hours need to change! being open late nights and on weekends might not please library staff but it sure is a user-centered policy. with all the kids and teens expected after school, staff must be trained to work with young people and understand child development. librarians working around patron schedules

-partnerships. librarians need to connect more often with various neighborhood organizations and public schools. librarians should have a grasp of what's going on in the neighborhood/town/city. they should be acting as a bridge for any mix of individuals and organizations. librarians as community organizers

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Neil Postman you big jerk

Neil Postman is kind of a jerk. I read Amusing Ourselves to Death, tried to talk about it with my boyfriend, and got into an argument! Way to go, Postman.

Seriously though, I was surprised how defensive the bf got of television! As I was trying to explain Postman's stance in various tidbits that stood out to me, he quickly struggled to argue against everything I was regurgitating. We talked for quite a while about it, and ended up agreeing that he also should read the book before we talk about it again. I think he was scared that what I was repeating were my beliefs and not those of Postmans.

While I don't necessarily fully agree with the intensity of Postman's arguments, It's obvious that tv has changed our society. Do the negative changes outweigh the positive? It might still be too soon to tell.

On thing that I am sure of - it is quite clear that most people get pretty offended when someone starts to knock television. And it makes sense! We grow up with it; it teaches, entertains, informs..it's simply a standard of living in america. I can't tell you how many people are shocked when I tell them that I don't have a tv. It is almost like I become slightly less relatable as a person. And it's not like I abstain from technology all together, I get to watch movies (and tv minus commercials) on my computer, with no extra monthly cable bill.

But a lot of us know that person, the person who abstains from almost all forms of 'new' technology. They usually piss us off, because maybe sub-consciously we agree with Postman on some level? That we know that tv has changed so much about our daily life, what we come to expect as human beings...and hearing someone brag about their intention on the return to 'purer' times makes us jealous?

Maybe. Or maybe they're just really annoying, as seen in this clip from a 90's HBO show "Mr Show" (it's about a minute into the clip):

Thursday, January 29, 2009

In the beginning...

Hello and welcome to my bangin' blog for Jessica Hochman's Instructional Technology course of spring 2009. I'm Emily Chornomaz, a YA librarian trainee at Brooklyn Public Library and a lover of guacamole (had to be said). I am excited that we all will be blogging for this class, it's such a great way to organize your thoughts when reacting to a specific book/article/discussion/anything. I recently started my own libraryland blog that I am shamelessly plugging. Although it is new and by no means do I update frequently, I've already found it to be helpful to give my ideas and critiques a bit more weight, to keep them alive until I can use them in tangiable ways or perhaps inspire someone else to build off them. I believe that our blogs will be of use to each other and ourselves, during this class and in positions we will find ourselves in the future. On y va! Let's go!

***ps...the white house has a blog??!