First of all, this entry will be like the last, a goulash of thoughts I've had while doing classwork for this week, followed by the big finish of my reactions to the articles we read for the week.
So, about that barn...I say this phrase all the time, and it's always going to be true, no matter what. I have no intention of actually trying to fill it or anything. In this instance, I'm referring to meta-sources, so to speak. I've just realized that not only is it important to have lots of good sources for the school library, it's vital to know --as fast as possible--what's good and why it's good.
Yes, most of this comes from experience and interacting with peers, once you have some. And this program helps. Now I know about kidspiration, for example. Clearly Linda-a professional with loads of experience, thinks this product is the best visual learning tool available. But what about when I'm on my own? I was working on the catalog criteria assignment, checking out the Springfield Township site. Accessed the web links, found a link to Squeak software. Was curious. Sure, finding it here was an endorsement of sorts, but what about a nifty review site--in this case, for open source.
I flopped around on google for awhile, looking for software review sites. I got a result for this.
While I was happy to find this collection of reviewed sites, I couldn't find a reviews for the software.
All this to say: Linda, what's your opinion about reading software reviews--and if you do that sort of thing, where do you go, or what do you read? Do peer journals like SLJ suffice?
Moving on, or rather, seguing to the Data, Data article.
Initial reaction: Federated searching sounds clunky, and dated. Like something we all used in 1996 or thereabouts. So I tried it. I still feel the same way--and besides, many of the top results for my searches were sponsored ads that were not relevant enough to be on the first page.
However, the final 'graph, which described the "one-click access" to a multitude of sources was the most interesting and useful part of the piece. I think it will always be important to show students that there's more information beyond a simple Google search. That alone could make having a meta search engine option on the school's website.
The Tag/Folksonomy piece articulated my misgivings about tags. I just feel so unwilling to trust another individual it seems! I guess because I have a hard time coming up with tags I would find useful for myself--they always seem so obvious that I actually get suspicious of the simplicity--I just can't believe someone out there is doing it properly. I'm fearful of going down yet another rabbit hole in the web, using tags to find information, instead of a search engine.
But I suppose that's the point, there is no *proper* tagging protocol. I checked out West's reference to Cory Doctorow (...how I learned to stop worrying and love the mess) the link didn't help much, but the title alone actually helps. Just stop worrying about, I says to my inner control freak;tags are helping people find information they want and need. Case closed.
Comments on the Valenza article later.
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Hey, just stop worrying about not knowing everything. My philosophy is that since it's impossible to know it all and to keep up on it all, the only thing you can do really is to find the tools and resources that you find helpful and that you like. Stick with those via RSS feeds, or whatever. Then know that you know other people who are keeping up on the stuff you aren't. And, know that even though you might not know people who know everything you sure know how to find it.
One of the reasons podcasting and RSS changed my life, is that I feel like I do keep up better than ever before. I have a set of text and podcast feeds that are my world of information. I feel very comfortable that with that set of info I will know what I need to know - it's how I keep up on new technologies, software, books, etc. Then I also know that through my daily contacts with others I'll keep up on everything else.
Think about how Twitter is working for us this semester. You find what you find but others find what they find and then...
Does this make sense/help?
The other thing that's interesting to me is that for the most part this is somewhat generational. I'm finding that younger people - kids and teens - who grew up with all this technology, don't feel like they have trouble keeping up.
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