Media and Technology Section
Updated: April 25, 2006
Spring 2006 Newsletter
- What's coming up at the WAPL Conference
- World of Wikis and Libraries
- Information overload? What information overload?
- Error Messages and Lockups in Microsoft Office Products
What's coming up
MATS is sponsoring two programs at the WAPL conference in May.
Technology may have some of us baffled. You know how to use email; but when do you use email and when would it be better to use a listserv (discussion group), a blog or a wiki? These more recent applications are not used as often by many of us but in the program, “Communication…that’s the key! Blogs, Wikis, Email…When to use what?!,” library staff will hear ideas about when and how two dynamic speakers, Stef Morrill and Nichole Fromm from South Central Library System, effectively use these methods.
In addition to methods of communication, technology is always evolving to either make us crazy (!) or improve the tools and tricks that will assist us in our positions. MATS is sponsoring the, “Have you heard about…,” program to share the cool new “stuff” and Stef Morrill is hoping that some attendees will contribute to the sharing with any of your latest and greatest gadgets or tricks.
MATS is also co-sponsoring, "Shared Systems Cost Study Report and Technology Update." This program will be presented by Bob Bocher, Technology Consultant, DLTCL and Sally Drew, Director, Reference and Loan Library, DLTCL will focus on the results of a written and verbal survey done by outside consultants to determine the costs of shared integrated library automated systems.What are the actual costs of operating a shared ILS? Who pays for what costs? What are the different funding models used to support shared ILS? In addition to the cost study there will be brief updates on the status of BadgerNet , E-Rate, and the RFP process for a new statewide resource sharing tool.
Don't miss the WAPL conference! More info about the conference can be found on the WLA web site."
[contributed by Terrie Howe]
The World of Wikis and Libraries
David Null, University Archivist at UW-Madison, and Terri Muraski, Access Services Librarian at UW-Stevens Point presented this engaging program on wikis at the 2006 WAAL conference. David demonstrated their stem cell research wiki. His working group uses it to collect, preserve and provide access to stem cell research and the reactions to such research in ethical, spiritual, political, legislative, social and economic areas. While most people think of wikis as open and editable by anyone, it’s also possible to password protect them, as they have done, or to allow people to view but not edit. He says it works very well for collaborating because participants don’t need web editing software or the ability to upload files to a web server. They can also easily see previous versions and who has edited them. David finds it very good for keeping track of web sites, but not particularly good for keeping track of images. UW-Madison uses PMwiki software, which is freely available, and fairly easy to setup.
Terri is working on a masters degree in communication and developed an interest in wikis after reading The Wisdom of Crowds. The key idea in this book is that everyone together is smarter than anyone alone. Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, is the most well-known wiki and has over 2000 core volunteers who provide definitions and correct errors. It is currently the 37th most visited web site. While not as authoritative as Encyclopaedia Britannica, a study in Nature showed it comes close in terms of the accuracy of its science articles. Errors are quickly corrected. Its greatest strength is the speed of updating, hence the popularity of this wiki.
From a technical standpoint, Terri says wikis are not difficult to setup. You can host on your own server or setup an account (free or fee) at a site such as Seedwiki or Jotspot. But if you choose to create your own open wiki and wish to monitor the content in the postings, she warns that it can be a great deal of work. To see how libraries have used wikis, check out BizWiki, which organizes business web sites by subject, and SwitchWiki, an index of public wikis. For more info on wiki software, check out Wiki Engines.
[Contributed summary by Marlys Brunsting]
Information overload? What information overload?
Two years ago, in March 2004, Ron Miller wrote an article entitled "Can RSS relieve information overload?" for Information Today. He wrote about how using RSS to "syndicate" news can help users gather and deliver information more easily, keep users coming back to web sites, and reduce email glut. A sidebar about Librarians' Internet Index and links to web aggregators enhanced the article.
Today, RSS is climbing up the bell curve of the technology adoption life cycle and is gaining mainstream users. One library example is EBSCO adding RSS feeds for alerts in February 2006, which effectively replaced their email notification system. Still, RSS is news to many, while others have already quit it in frustration, citing information overload. (The joke at my office is, "I check my Bloglines religiously every month.")
There is hope for handling information overload, RSS and otherwise. Perhaps not surprisingly, it has more to do with mindful behavior than fancy tools.
Read like a duck
Reading faster and letting much of it roll off your back is, in fact, a great basic technique for coping with information overload. Try reading your daily news input in a sprint, whether it comes as headlines from the local paper, email discussion lists, newsletters, or the feeds in your newsreader (which, by the way, can often handle all of the first three in one handy place).
If an item "pings" your brain often enough, perhaps it's actually worth researching further. More than half the time, if you love a ping, let it go; if you see it again it's worth knowing. If not, it never was.
Scatter crumbs
A good deal of information seeking is re-finding information, as any librarian who has helped a patron find "that one book I checked out last summer, with the red cover" knows.
Some technological solutions to re-finding information, like social bookmarking tools del.icio.us and Furl, are wonderful extensions of the clip file and personal notes. They allow users to bookmark, tag, share, and save web pages, and have dedicated followings with their own tips and tricks. However, bookmarks only work if you recognize at the time you see something that you'll want to find it again.
For those lacking that crystal-ball foresight, some web sites (particularly retail sites) will remember what users have viewed. When all else fails, there's always the old fallback, your browser's history.
Value your own time
Nancy Pearl, queen of readers' advisory, has a rule for guilt-free quitting of a book. Called the Rule of 50, it asks readers to give a book 50 pages (or fewer) before deciding whether to continue reading. Likewise, if you're feeling overloaded, it's worth coming up with a "media diet" of your own. It'll be quite personal, so there's no page-count formula, but handling information overload is, in the end, within everyone's control.
[contributed by Nichole Fromm]
Why the Error Message in MS Office Excel, Publisher, Word or PowerPoint?
You may be encountering error messages in your Microsoft office program and do not know what might be causing the error. Even more importantly you may not know how to get rid of the error and continue to function in Excel, Word, Publisher or another Office program without it locking up. The error message may not be as significant as whether you have EVER done critical updates for your Office programs as you have hopefully performed Windows Updates on your Operating System (Windows 98, Windows 2000 or Windows XP). Just as with the operating system, the office programs become compromised and updates are done by the Microsoft company that may need to be downloaded to eliminate errors.
Where do you find the updates for the Microsoft Office programs? Visit
the MS
Office Downloads site using Internet Explorer (IE) browser (Microsoft
is finicky if you use Firefox or other browser to obtain MS Office downloads.)and
click on the link that says Check for Updates
.
Your computer will be analyzed for needed updates depending on the programs
and the installed versions of the Office program. You will need to download
these updates and possibly run the check several times, possibly restarting
the machine if prompted between downloads. Continue to do this until
there are no more updates to be obtained. This should eliminate Microsoft
Office errors.
[contributed by Terrie Howe]
