Nabaztag, the Wi-Fi Rabbit

These aren't new but I might have to have Nabaztag: "I'm a newborn bunny, one of a unique species of intelligent, smart objects. I'm 23 cm tall, I wriggle my ears, I sing, I talk and my body lights up and pulsates with hundreds of colours. Thanks to Wi-Fi technology, I'm always connected to the Internet." Things it does:
Talking Clock, Wake Up Rabbit (music), News Headlines, Weather Forecast, Stock Market, "See" other Rabbits and let you know by moving its ears, speaking or playing music, E-Mail Alerts--and apparently RSS feeds.
It's not really a blogjet or a spime...but it's closer than my laptop is.

They're not available from any place here in the U.S....yet.

UPDATE April 4: Nicholas Nova (pasta&vinegar) has just bought a Nabaztag and he says, "it’s a first step in the world of communicating artifacts."

Web 2.0 is [pick one]

Slate writer Paul Boutin hones in on the semantic ambiguity of the term Web 2.0 (well, is it semantic or literal ambiguity?) in a short piece, reflecting the "checkout stand placement" Web 2.0 has acquired with the Newsweek April 3 cover story. He identifies three--maybe four--definitions that may be or may not be compatible. "...people use Web 2.0 to mean different, often conflicting things."
1. Web 2.0 is a mishmash of tools and sites that foster collaboration and participation.
2. Web 2.0 is the software and languages used to build the gee-whiz features of sites like YouTube, Flikr and Wikipedia.
3. A "Web 2.0 play" is a bid to make money by funding a bring-your-own-content site.
4. Publicists and self-promoters invoke Web 2.0 whenever they want to tag something as new, cool, and undiscovered.

Image from gapingvoid.com (warning: Hugh uses swear words in many of his cartoons, so maybe don't look at his blog in a public place)

Ashless art

“My father sits at night with no lights on,
His cigarette glows in the dark,
The living room is still,
I walk by, no remark.”
(“That’s The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be” – Carly Simon) [Web site ; Wikipedia entry]

Although I wasn’t on the road with my fellow IAGers and colleagues from OCLC Research at either CIL or PLA last week, I’ve been away in the last two weeks, having but recently returned from Charlotte, North Carolina. This particular trip to NC was a fun trip, not business related, but alas like so many of my travels, it too gave rise to an episode of my chronic case of librarian’s wandering disease – i.e. when I’m anywhere near a library, I tend to wander in.  

So, on that recent promise-of-Spring-in-the-air Saturday in Charlotte I spent several pleasant hours wandering around the Main Library of the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County. Now I might wax poetic about the fabulous historical materials collection in the Carolina Room on the top floor, or the very cool Virtual Village on the lowest floor, but on passing the coffee shop I was really drawn to the media space in the center – DVDs, CDs, and gaming (live gaming being enthusiastically pursued by a slightly-more-players-than-consoles crowd of very contented-looking patrons). And I also noticed something pretty interesting nearby – a cigarette machine that dispenses art, PLCMC’s own Artomat installation.  

I resisted the coffee and didn’t have time to queue for a game, but the Artomat machine was just too tempting. So I went to the main desk, traded my $5 for a token, and the token for a pull of the lever on the Artomat, and out came my prize -- a handcrafted book (blank pages for one to write in) in cigarette pack-sized box. Very cool – a book in a box (see photo) in a recycled cigarette vending machine in the library. Public access computing, coffee, gaming, art vending – what will these public librarians think of next?

The User-Centered Universe Comes Closer

You know, we've all yakked on and on about how all our libraries need to be user-centric.

*Our physical architecture and furniture set-up should be arranged for the user's world, not ours.
*Our directional signage and way-finding aids (posters) point out helpful pieces of information at just the right moment of a user's journey.
*Our physical materials ought to be displayed with a friendly, welcoming and (frankly) retail-oriented appeal.
*Our Web sites need to use labels/tags that make sense to our spouses, significant others and friends.
*Our RSS feeds/blogs for library users need to add value to their day, not noise.
*Our electronic and digital collections need to translate immediately into benefits for the user's world: they're not here to find as many resources as possible on global warming--they're here to find three good articles from which they can substantively draw for a report that is due tomorrow.

I could go on and on. You could go on and on, and fill in the blanks for what you're dreaming of, for the perfect library in your mind. Or the im-perfect library that you currrently work in....or in my case, the library I imagine as a conjuration of multiple libraries I've used and dreamed of.

Where am I going with this? As I've been reading through the recent conference posts and rants (her word, not mine!), it looks like we are ready to "eat our own dog food," as the saying goes. We want our meta-conversations to be just as gracious as our libraries are.

I'm talking about presentations at library conferences. WE are the users in this case. Center your presentation around ME the audience member, here.

Now this is no big revelation--we're taught to consider your audience in High School Speech class...but I think the recent spate of blogsation (that's my new word of the day--blog conversation) shows that as an industry, we've internalized the message and now demand it of each other.

All I can say is,
Rock on.
You?

Springtime and renewal

It is a beautiful day here in my little office. Today is one of those days when you start to believe that Spring may indeed come, even though it seems highly unlikely.

After such a wonderful but crazy week in Boston at PLA last week, I did take a couple of hours yesterday to reconfirm a commitment to Spring, to life and to continued zest for doing the things we Love, Especially when we don't Think we have Time to do them: I bought new running shoes.

New Running Shoes
Now this is not an endeavor I do every day. (Buying new running shoes.) In fact, the sales person at the shoe store was incredulous at the state of my 5-year-old shoes. "You've been running in THESE?," she exclaims.

Well...yes I have. But not running as much as I'd like. I've just been letting a lot of other things get in the way lately.

Let me explain: It feels like I am behind on just about everything lately--behind on work, behind on life, behind on self-improvement...behind, behind, behind. Do you ever feel like that? Do you ever feel like that, at your library? Of course you do. We all do.

And yet, when I went on the maiden voyage in my brand new running shoes, it brought me exactly the perspective a conference is meant to: a chance to breathe, to reflect on what's happened lately, and a time to ponder what it all means.
*What direction should our library go next? Do we hire that new staff person? Can we increase our outreach to the community? How can we create an environment for GenX leaders to spread their wings?" (Because we do have wings, I assure you...)

So even if you didn't attend CIL or PLA, Spring will come to you and your library, too. Work will Get Done Eventually and remember, we are meant to enjoy life!

Now. I'm off for another run.

 

Books books books

This shot is for all you Perceptions fans and the famous quotation about what one woman thinks of, when she thinks of a library:

"Books books books, rows of books, stacks of books, tables filled with books, people holding books, people checking out books. Libraries are all about books. That is what I think and that is what I will always think."

Thanks to the Boston Public Library for letting me snap as many photos as I could!
 

Boston Public Library

Speaking of hip spaces, the Boston Public (Copley Square) was a great place to hang out when you wanted a break from all the conference hoopla.

Don't get me wrong--I worked hard at a lot of behind-the-scenes hoopla at this show--but it was such a refreshing jolt to wander through the stacks and remember what an urban public library IS and DOES and who uses it on 2:30 pm on a random Thursday afternoon. There were young entrepreneurs writing business plans, retirees, high school students, and a good chunk of English-as-a-second-language speakers in between. 

Coolest Exhibit Booth in all of PLA

The Coolest Exhibit Booth in all of PLA 2006 (IMHO) was the one from Creative Arts Unlimited, Inc. Their signage was smart, to the point and visually arresting. And when I started talking with Bruce, the Design Director, it made sense why: they are a company that specializes in transforming library interiors into spaces that feel alive, engaging and (dare I say) hip!
 

OCLC Update Breakfast at PLA 2006

7:30 AM was not too early for these Update Breakfast attendees. Held in the Huntington Ballroom of the Colonnade Hotel (which I can now wholeheartedly recommend), there were more than 250 librarians to provide feedback and recommendations for what they'd like to see the world's largest library coooperative do next! These two librarians look like they've just thought up something controversial for the IAG bloggers to talk about! (Or perhaps a really cool new thing to do with WorldCat?) 

Small Library of the Year reception

A few WebJunction and OCLC staff attended the LJ Celebration of the Small Library at PLA. The Haines Public Library in Haines, Alaska won the award, with an inspiring story to boot. Pictured L-R are Jenny, Florence, Betha and George. 

George meets famous WJ columnist

George's doppelganger. This was the life-sized foam cut-out of the famous "I'm Curious, George" columnist. Our George II graced the OCLC exhibit booth at PLA, and made a special guest appearance at the WebJunction reception. 

So long, and thanks for all the fish

Nothing personal, but I'm out of here for a while. The long-suffering Joyce and I are taking a little break for a few days, so it will have to be all good without me, at least temporarily.

PLA Wrap Up

My official role at PLA is over now (such as it was). I was the host/greeter at the OCLC exhibit booth for a couple of hours this afternoon, and got to meet a lot of old and new friends. I also got teased incessantly about a life-size foam board mounted picture of me that had been installed in the exhibit space as an ad for WebJunction, and the Curious George column in particular. Lorcan Dempsey may have fangirls, but I have a doppelganger!

Earlier, I had facilitated a discussion of e-learning that featured Sarah Chesemore, the Learning Manager for WebJunction, Phil Turner, the Vice Provost for Learning Enhancement at the University of North Texas, and Celisa Steele, Vice President of Operations for LearnSomething (which merged with Isoph in 2005). Celisa gave a very good basic introduction to e-learning, Phil talked about how to implement e-learning effectively, and Sarah talked about the findings a survey WebJunction has done on e-learning, and how to find out what's available. The questions and discussions that followed were lively and challenging.

The morning started with the OCLC Update Breakfast, which always seems to start in the middle of the flipping night. I arrived at the hotel banquet room at 6:00 a.m., and several intrepid OCLC staffers, including IAG's own Alice Sneary, Sonya Oliver, and Stephen Leonard, had already started setting up the room. Jay Jordan gave the update, and had the audience both laughing and fascinated by all OCLC is doing.

As a former PLA director, I can't get over how big this conference has gotten. As of yesterday, over 9800 people were registered (compared to maybe 4000 when I was doing that gig). Greta Southard, Linda Bostrom, Barb Macikas, and the whole PLA crew have put together what I think of as the best all around library conference. Of course, I'm a public librarian at heart, and that's what this is all about!

The Internet of Things: Spimes and Blogjets

I mentioned the Internet of Things yesterday at the very end of my session as an example of newish stuff I'm following--part of the dumpster diving I do to spot trends. And as I had no time to describe or explain, here's links to the two pieces that will make all clear to you about the Internet of Things. And if not clear, I assure you, your little gray cells will be given a workout.

Bruce Sterling, the science-fiction writer, coined the term "spime" (SPace and tIME) and Julian Bleeker, of the University of Southern California's Annenburg Center for Communication, coined the term "blogjet".

They are similar concepts...Bleeker says Sterling's spime is a more sci-fi-ish object. Here's his description of the Internet of Things from his paper [pdf] "A Manifesto for Networked Objects--Co-habiting with Pigeons, Arphids and Aibos in the Internet of Things": "The Internet of Things has evolved into a nascent conceptual framework for understanding how physical objects, once networked and imbued with informatic capabilities will occupy space and will occupy themselves in a world where things were once quite passive."

Sterling's paper is actually a transcript of a talk he gave recently at eTech 2006: "Spimes are manufactured objects whose informational support is so overwhelmingly extensive and rich that they are regarded as material instantiations of an immaterial system. Spimes begin and end as data. They're virtual objects first and actual objects second."

This stuff is what Web 2.0 is really about...

CIL: Alane's Necklace & Lorcan's Fans

That would be human fans not the feathered kind.

Lorcan and I were both on the program at CIL, yesterday morning, at the same time. This caused some consternation as some people fretted to me whether to attend my session or Lorcan's. I told them to go to Lorcan's. And thankfully, many people blogged his talk about metadata in a Web 2.0 world(on Technorati, use the tag CIL2006 and "Lorcan" and you'll find all the mentions) so now I know what he said. Dorothea of Caveat Lector, though, wins hands down, for her remarks. "Fangirly" has been added to my vocabulary.

My session, "Scanning for Planning" was blogged by Jenica at Thinking Out Loud who makes me sound a lot more coherent that I thought I was, and in a later post she mentions the silver necklace I was wearing, approvingly. Thank goodness. Perhaps I am exposing my Digital Immigrantness, but it is just odd to read little bits and pieces about yourself all over the blogosphere. And it is a reminder that the Panopticon is here and that our words and actions become part of the observed world very quickly.

PLA Update

Ginny is a blogging machine, isn't she? I almost feel like I'm there in DC with her. Way to go!

I'm in Boston at PLA. Yesterday, I said a few words at the closing of a preconference on programming in public libraries, sponsored by the Public Programs Office at ALA. (You can make a gift to the Cultural Communities Fund here.)

Afterwards, I saw some amazing things in the exhibit hall. There are some real advances being made in materials handling, in handling audio materials, and even some cool new furniture. Since this isn't a space for advertising, I won't link to those companies, but the point is there is palpable excitement at the conference about the future of libraries. The librarians here (and Boston seems positively overrun!) are full of excitement about new ways to offer service.

This afternoon I met with some public librarians about using our collaborative experience to improve the acquisition of non-English materials. The ideas flew fast and furious, and there may be more to come on this one soon.

Next, it's on to the WebJunction reception and the LJ reception to honor outstanding small public libraries. Tomorrow, the OCLC Update breakfast, a WebJunction program on e-learning, and several hours at the exhibit booth. If you're here in Boston reading this, make sure to stop by! (That link is for Jay, by the way.)

CIL continued

After that morning I needed lunch and a nap. And then I wandered around the exhibits for a while. It's always interesting to see who's there and what's new in their worlds. I managed to stop by for a few minutes at the SLA booth - I was surprised to see them there until I remembered that Tom Hogan had mentioned in his introduction that SLA is an Association Sponsor of this conference. So I stopped to thank them!!

I didn't write in detail about the wonderful workshop I attended on Tuesday called Web Managers Academy. In that workshop and just the 3 sessions I went to this morning I learned enough for a whole conference! And I have 2 1/2 days to go! My brain is definitely full, and pretty soon I'm going to crash for the night. Tomorrow morning is the Update Breakfast that I want to go to.

CIL - New web site tools & technologies

This session was presented in two parts, the first by Jason Clark on Building Usable Library Interfaces with AJAX and the second by Karen Coombs on Open Source Applications for Library Web Site Management. They both managed to present a tremendous amount of information in very little time, and without making us feel totally stupid. So much of this was new to me and I have no idea whether any of it is even possible in the web systems I work with, but boy am I going to try. It is incredibly cool, and they make it sound easy. Jason even mentioned some work by OCLC Research that I was completely unaware of! I need to keep up better!!

CIL - Basics of Web-Based experience planning

David King presented a well organized outline of "how-to" design a web site that made me want to go back home and get started! He used concepts from Jesse James Garrett to outline the process. The 5 steps are: strategy, scope, structure, skeleton, surface. He emphasized that you have to remember at every stage that the user of the site is the most important element. Users should have a feeling of control and interactivity in all parts of the site. We need to keep the focus on the user rather than on the resources we have to offer to the user.

At the end of the presentation someone asked about the cluttered (to her) look of many award winning websites. David pointed out that what looks cluttered to us does not necessarily look cluttered to our users - - if these are people who regularly use CNN or Amazon or Yahoo they probably have come to like what we consider cluttered.

The bottom line is: It's all about the user!! And it's hard for us to remember.

CIL - Keynote by Chris Sherman of SearchEngineWatch

Chris Sherman, recently back from China, talked about developments in the search engine world - and compared the present time to 1995 - a time of much excitement and innovation, along with one-upmanship and me-tooism. Things are changing a lot in the search engine world and some search engines are becoming things other than search engines. Jeeves has been fired, but Ask is going strong. Google is be coming everything web. MSN is giving off confusing brand messages, and Yahoo innovation seems to be slowing down while their research arm is ramping up. Personalization is becoming pervasive in very exciting ways, but it has a dark side as privacy issues crop up. And lawsuits are crowding the horizon. It feels like 1995 again! And it's fun.