I'm playing with the blog feature!My regular blogs may be found at:http://theunquietlibrary.wordpress.comhttp://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.comBuffy
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Posted by Susan Geiger on March 18, 2008 at 5:55am
We’re seeking presenters for our Internet at Schools conference, to be held in Monterey, California, October 20-21, 2008. Sponsored by MultiMedia & Internet@Schools magazine, the conference covers practical and timely technology-related topics and technology-based tools and resources for K-12 media and technology specialists. It is held in conjunction with the Internet Librarian 2008 conference.I'm particularly interested in cool things people are doing in 1:1 laptop environments, web 2.0, the libraries role in staff development and any other thing you're doing with technology that has your faculty and students excited and learning.This is a friendly conference in a venue that encourages face to face interaction with other conference attendees. Volunteer to speak and meet some of those names on your blog roll ! All speakers receive a full, complimentary registration to the Internet@Schools West and Internet Librarian 2008 conferences.
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(Crossposted at Durff's Blog)This summer the Olympics are taking place in a country that is assisting genocide in another country AND in their own.I call for a boycott! My small contribution will be to NOT watch the Olympics. I'm not an athlete (good thing or we would surely lose) so I can't refuse to participate that way. I'm not the CEO of a major funding source for the games. What I can and will do is not tune in to any tv coverage, any internet coverage, or any other media coverage of any nation that knowingly kills any group of people with whom that government does not agree. I will tell all my students of my decision and rationale. I will use online tools to tell others of my decision.When the Nazi regime was toppled, it was widely proclaimed, "Never again." But now it is happening at least twice.What are you going to do about it?
I recently got an email from a librarian in Illinois asking about ways to use Google to identify the date of an article. She wondered if there was a command in Google that would provide update information.I responded by saying that I don't think Google itself has a tool for sorting records by cache date, but if any page is cached, students can click that link and find the date it was updated or added to Google's index. Look for the term Cache at the end of the snippet. This isn't the same as "last updated" or copyright, but it's better than nothing.Personally, I wouldn't use it for a date in a citation, but as a guide for freshness if the date of the information was critical (usually for very current events). Back to this point in a moment.I did a quick search using keywords GOOGLE CACHE DATE and found that third parties create tools that come close to what she may be looking for. For example: http://www.webuildpages.com/tools/ advertises a Cache Tool: "Enter in a URL and this tool will check that page, and all links off of that page to see when each page was last cached. Will also show if any pages aren't getting cached. Improved and updated." The tool is no longer free and may be purchased. I think I'll pass, but in case anyone owns this, I'd like to know how you use it.The important issue here is what date to cite: copyright, last updated or cached. I'd like to hear from practitioners what they advise. What if copyright isn't available? If you should assume copyright on all Web content, is "last updated" the most accurate?
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I posted this on my “Primary Source Librarian” blog today, and I thought others might want to consider setting up their own Web 2.0 Playground:Yesterday I spent a most enjoyable three hours with nine other people at a Leapday Playday to explore the concepts and tools of Web 2.0. We called our computer lab a “playground,” and we were there to “play.”Why “play?” Because every time I mention Web 2.0 to other educators, they react in at least one of the following ways:* What’s THAT?* I’ve heard of it, and I know I should be doing it, but I really don’t know what it is.* Grrrr. One more thing I have to do.* I don’t even know where to start.* Why should I try? Even if I did know what it was, all that stuff is blocked in my district anyway.A tense look of anxiety typically accompanies each response. Thinking that the best remedy for this anxiety might be to encourage play, I invited a play group made up of former colleagues (including three retired friends) and current folks in charge of technology training in my old school district. You know--all library/tech/teacher types. Well, we had a blast! No pressure. No continuing education credits. No expectation of finished products. Just simple, mostly unstructured time to play with and share the concepts and tools of Web 2.0 that we discovered.We spent a few minutes at the beginning looking at some of the typical features of Web 2.0 such as tags and comments, but mostly we just explored a variety of tools from a Web 2.0 tools handout. (I added professional to the handout title, as in "Web 2.0 Professional Playground," just in case anyone questioned our purpose. I figured I could call it a professional learning community if pushed.)I was by no means the expert in the room, but I’m pleased to say that together, we managed to set up our own Web2Playground wiki with links to everything we explored (including the handout) and potential links to actual projects that we create. This wiki might have a short shelf life, but at least we all now recognize a wiki when we see one. Our playground skills are improving!
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