New staff uniform?

I saw this T-shirt in Amsterdam (I've censored it a bit) and thought it would be perfect for any library. Some staff may take a bit of persuading, though.

Review: Tara Brabazon, "The University of Google"

My decision to review this book arose out of my frustrations at finding a decent review prior to buying this book. Tara Brabazon is professor of media at Brighton University. Her book, The University of Google was published in late 2007. Most reviews focus on Professor Brabazon's quote that "Google is white bread for the mind" (p.57). This then opens the door to all sorts of commentators who haven't even bothered to read the book to depict Brabazon as some kind of digital Luddite trying to turn the information tide back to the good old days of analogue. This is at best unfortunate and at worst downright wrong. Far from ignoring the information thick (note she uses the word thick rather than rich) world, Brabazon highlights the diversity and complexity of information which is available to the student and argues that each format, digital or analogue, deserves its own literacy to decode its message.

The University of Google is written against a fluctuating and demanding backdrop: In the world of information, there is an explosion of different media, each competing for our attention, each demanding a separate way of understanding or reading; in the higher education world, however, there is an explosion of students from diverse backgrounds, cultures and expectations and a corresponding decline in financial and teaching resources to assist these students in their learning.

The answer to this situation, according to educational managers is to transfer more learning materials online thus creating a flexible solution to the diverse nature if the students. Brabazon uses her book to destroy this argument. She counters that the diversity of students (whether they are working-class; foreign; part-time or just plain lazy) mean that they actually require more support not less; and that the diverse nature of the forms in which information can now be communicated means that critical literacies need to be learnt and understood.

Following a dense introduction, the proceeding chapters form a steady and coherent argument consisting of a challenging polemic supported by very detailed footnotes and testimonies from her students.

The University of Google draws upon the failures (and successes of the past) to illustrate the present. The failure of flexible learning, distance and correspondence courses was a result of massive assumptions: the assumption that students could take notes; follow an argument; regulate their own learning and manage their time. The need to make these assumptions explicit is paramount to Brabazon, in much the same way as we assume that today's "Google generation" can search effectively, assimilate and evaluate this information.

Brabazon is clearly a good teacher who cares about her profession. For non-teachers like myself, there is much to recommend this book in introducing pedagogical methods: for instance, as already stated, the need to acknowledge assumptions "and teach them overtly" (p.148). Similarly, to start where the student is, rather than where we would like them to be; using popular cultural references as a start and then take students on a journey from passive consumers to more critical appreciations. The chapter on podcasting could easily be removed from the book and used as a stand-alone essay on the use of sound in education. Throughout, Brabazon gives considered comment to many education standards such as VLEs, Powerpoint, and even overhead transparencies - "cheap, flexible, mobile and can be very effective" (p.175).

The references to Google itself are not all bad. She recognises the extraordinary way Google attempts to bring order to the world of internet information. Yet she is aware of its limitations - of delivering out of date, trivial, unauthorised, irrelevant and misleading information. Her critique of Google's ranking system, based on popularity not relevance will surprise many and act as a warning to others. The lesson here (and throughout the book) is not to dismiss Google but to use it as a starting point - to take students from information to knowledge. Google Book Search for instance can be the starting point for a literature search using library catalogues; similarly Google Scholar can lead students to e-journals and journals held by our libraries - if our own infrastructure allows space for such instruction. In Professor Brabazon's own words:

"To repeat: the problem is not Google...the concern is that teachers and librarians are not being given a chance to instruct the literacies required to transform Google from a leisure application and into a starting point for a critical and reflexive research process" (p.145).

There is plenty to recommend this thought-provoking polemic, not least Professor Brabazon's championing of librarians. Any librarian who has to challenge preconceived notions in academic board or senior management meetings, would do well to be armed with some of the arguments from this book. It is rare to find a champion of librarians from outside the profession who can articulate the challenges we face. This is far more than the usual "libraries are a good thing" sympathy vote we often receive.

The book is punctuated with testimonies from her students. At first I misinterpreted this as vanity - "look what a good lecturer I am". Yet as the book's argument begins to gather pace, these quotes are more than illustrations of Professor Brabazon's beliefs; they are confirmations of good pedagogy. All good teaching and learning must start with one thing - the student. As I begin work on preparing materials for next year's student inductions, I have a feeling that Professor Brabazon will play an important part in their construction.

Social Networking, Bereavement and Grief

Last month my stepson Andrew, who I had the pleasure of knowing since he was 5 years old, died at the tender age of just 21. The grieving process for the loss of one so young and with so much potential is often slow and painful. Many adults find it difficult to approach the parents who have lost children, so it was no surprise that visits to us from Andrew’s friends were few. They too were struggling to come to terms with what was probably their first loss of a friend their own age.

However, comfort came from an unexpected source – Web 2.0 or to be more specific, Facebook, instant messaging and tagging.

Facebook

Andrew was on Facebook but of course his parents were not included as his friends! One of Andrew’s friends kindly gave us his own e-mail and password and so we were able to access Andrew’s profile and messages. The messages his friends posted on Facebook were of enormous comfort to us: they wrote to him directly, as if Andrew was able to read the messages. Many messages were short (“RIP Bruv”, etc) and were sadly repeated a few days later in messages left for youngsters killed in London. However, others were longer and more intimate. Andrew’s friends were clearly hurting and were at ease in expressing their loss and praising his life.

Examples of the sort of messages left for Andrew can be found on the dontstayin website which crops up later under the heading of "Tagging".

Interestingly, when we met some of this “Google generation” face to face they were far more guarded in their expressions of loss.

Instant Messaging

Andrew’s account on MSN opened automatically when the PC was switched on. This gave us our first opportunity to use instant messaging and provided us with our first chance to talk directly to Andrew’s friends. Again this was an enormous comfort as friends reluctant to come to our house were more than happy to talk about our son and ask about our well-being. I’m poor when it comes to the text speak of young people but they were patient as I demonstrated that I was as about as cool as Ken Barlow when it came to MSN. Again, their messages of sympathy and stories about Andrew were heartfelt and very touching.

Tagging
What a source of comfort this turned out to be! One of Andrew’s favourite sites http://www.dontstayin.com/ is a forum for dedicated dance music enthusiasts or ravers. It contains announcements of events, forums and photos. Those who had uploaded photos onto the site had also tagged them with the names of the people in the photos (called "spotters"). Andrew had probably spotted and tagged himself on many of the pics. All we had to do was enter Andrew’s nickname into the search box and behold, dozens of photos of Andrew and a side to him we hardly ever saw. The sight of him having such a good time in so many photos undoubtedly contributed to the positive way we are trying to assess his life. It may have been short but God it was full. You can see for yourself here.

Lessons

Young people are exceptionally sensitive and thoughtful and are far more comfortable expressing themselves via a pc than face-to-face.
If people communicate in text speak who cares? It is the message which is important.
Web 2.0 applications are every bit as legitimate to the “google generation” as a means of communication as the telephone was to our generation.

As a grieving couple we are so thankful that these applications exist as they have been a real source of comfort to us through what has been and still is a terrible time.

Blogs in Libraries

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a few librarians who said they would like to get into blogging but couldn’t see what use they could have in a library setting. I had a similar conversation again this week which made up my mind to post an entry in my own blog about where to start.

3 Sources of Ideas:

First of all, as an introduction read chapter 3 of Phil Bradley’s book “How to use Web 2.0 in your library” probably not available in all good bookshops but can be purchased via Facet Press – just get your Cilip membership cards out for that discount. Phil covers the obligatory “what is a weblog?” bit but then places it in a library setting. Here he describes the publicity angle of a blog: promoting exhibitions, events and new stock.

The beauty of this medium is that you can use your smaller displays to easily tie in to wider and much larger events on the net. Similarly, one of the conventions of a blog, the comments page allows your readers or students to let you know exactly what they think. If they make recommendations for new stock, they are doing half of the work for you!

Secondly, I would recommend Week 1 of “Five Weeks to a Social Library”. There are plenty of presentations here but if you only watch one I would recommend Anne Welsh’s screencast “From Writer’s Block to Library Blog”. Although Anne writes from a very specific point of view as information officer at DrugScope, she talks about very universal themes. This presentation gave me loads of ideas. Her basic theme is to think about the things we do anyway and just do them differently. All we are doing through our blogs is repackaging what we already do but in a way that makes it more interesting to us and to our audience.

Thirdly and finally, I would highly recommend you read Roddy MacLeod’s guest article (there’s another idea for you!) UK Library Blogs - What Do We Think We're Doing? on Brian Kelly’s UK Web Focus. Roddy’s university, Heriot Watt’s Library produce a blog called “Spineless?” (gedditt??!!). Halfway down the article Roddy lists the purpose and suggested posts for the blog. There are loads of ideas here.

Make sure you also read the comments to Roddy’s article. Again there are plenty of ideas and encouragement, particularly from Phil Bradley (that man again!). Those who worry that they need to get everything right first time will be put at ease by Phil’s comments.

If anyone has any other good places librarians should start, or ideas librarians could put in practice, please feel free to comment.

Blogger v WordPress

Aren't I the clever one? No sooner do I get to grips with Blogger than I'm off to WordPress to set up a new blog. What is the difference? Well Blogger is much easier to use - a child of 46 can quickly set up and run a new blog. As for WordPress, well I had to get my partner to lock me in my study for a weekend and not open the door until I had cracked their conventions and applications. I emerged into the sunlight on Sunday afternoon, dazed but happy.

The beauty of WordPress is that it allows you to place your articles in categories. This immediately counteracts the reverse chronological order of postings which you are resticted to on Blogger. I mean it would be a pretty poor library that arranged its books purely in the order of their acquisition.

Returning to Blogger after several days with WordPress, everything seem pretty basic - I suppose it is the same for a child having to play with Duplo after being set free on Lego. Having said all that, I really like Blogger. It doesn't put you off or assume anything and surely that is the real beauty of Web 2.0, that the content is the important part not the technology.

Anyway if anyone is interested in the goings on in further education in Wales and beyond my website is available here.

Web 2.0 book

Phil's book arrived through my letterbox last week. As you would expect, it is packed with explanations of the various elements which make up Web 2.0 and loads of hints and tips as to how these applications may be applied to libraries. I will be using this book in conjunction with the Five Weeks to a Social Library website which has already had enough publicity from me. Copies can be bought from Facet Publishing. It also gives me an excuse to add my first picture to my otherwise dull-looking blog.

del.icio.us

I've started dipping my toe into the ocean of social bookmarking. Jason Griffey has an excellent introduction to del.icio.us in the Five Weeks to a Social Library - week 2. There are a few ways of following the lectures on this site but my preferred method is to download the talk in mp3 and then follow the presentation slides. Jason's talk (it lasts over an hour) is slow to start but the last 25 minutes or so is packed with useful information.

Inspired, I set up a delicious account for my library or LRC (as we call them in further education) and have started to tag the websites catalogued on our OPAC. It even works for journal articles we've catalogued from our datasets such as InfoTrac.

Now that I've got this far, I don't know what to do next with it. No doubt Phil Bradley will have a few pointers in his book "How to use Web 2.0 in your Library". Unfortunatley for me, social bookmarking doesn't crop up until Chapter 6 and I'm only on Chapter 3. Come to think about it, I'm still on week 2 of the Five Weeks to a Social Library and I'm sure I started that last February!