Extra Credit: 10 Random Things About THE Scott Woods

1) I'm a writer, not just of poetry, but of fiction. I've completed two novels, but only one of them is good.

2) I DJ as Scott's Groove Locker around town.

3) I firmly believe that exercise will kill you.

4) I am a total gaming addict: board games, video games...games....mmm...

5) I've released over 10 CDs of music, mostly under pseudonyms.

6) Pizza is my favorite food, and I divvy up which pizza to buy based on mood. My favorite go-to pie is Masseys. It used to be Tommy's, but then they changed the pie.

7) I will go see any movie based on a comic book.

8) I've been working on my will lately. It's tough when you care where stuff goes.

9) In CML there is a significant difference in the same job based on location.

10) If you ever hear this line from Patrick Losinski:

"When you work at Main you're working in service to the institution that is CML and all it represents. When you work in branches, you are in service to the community. Neither is good or bad; just very different missions."

...he stole that from me.

#23 - So what does it all mean, Alfie? (or, Scott 1.25, maybe)

Before I launch into what is likely to be a lengthy missive about my thoughts on the CML Learn & Play experience, I'd like to drive home what my opinions are being measured against to formulate the information that follows. The stated goal of L&P was:

"[To] encourage staff to experiment and learn about the new and emerging
technologies that are reshaping the context of information on the Internet
today."

...with the following three objectives listed as a strategy to achieve the goal:

-encourage exploration of Web 2.0 and new technologies by CML staff;
-provide staff with new tools (that are freely available on the Internet) to better support CML’s mission: to promote reading and guide learning in the pursuit of information, knowledge, and wisdom, and;
- reward staff for taking the initiative to complete 23 self-discovery exercises.

I will also try to wrap up this post having answered the questions asked of the final entry task:

- What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
- How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
- Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
- What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
- If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again chose to participate?

In so much as the goal was to expose staff to "new and emerging technologies", I guess that's something CML can chalk up as a "success". Staff was exposed to stuff online.

But I must be honest: I found the whole experiment largely inconsequential to the business of work. Was this fun at times? Of course, but mostly a vast use of time and energy spent with little to show for it in terms of practical application, and almost no day-to-day benefit to customers.

What sites I discovered that were new to me that I enjoyed had almost no library-related practicality. I love StumbleUpon and YouTube, but how would I apply that to what I do every day at CML? I wouldn't. At best I might help a patron navigate such sites, but in general patrons are pretty set in what they're using computers for. I found this to be true of almost every application I came into contact with, with one exception (online PC - VC - and online storage). What I know and use online on a regular basis is pretty vast, but has no CML application. I find it hard to imagine CML would spend the amount of time and work that it did so that I could Twitter every day...particularly with the amount of time most staff aren't in front of a computer.

As far as training goes, this exercise - while engaging and generating some measure of co-worker interaction (mostly centered on how to navigate exercises they didn't know and were likely to never use again) - would hardly qualify as little more than a cursory glance at what any of these applications has to offer. I've taken Excel training through CML, but I'd be lying if I said I used it with enough regularity post-training to be even mildly versed in how it works, and I certainly wouldn't suggest that what I did learn stuck. It's not training if you do it once and you never have to use it. Anyone who went through these 23 items and then turned around and said, "I have become so much better trained in how these things work" is bucking for a Section 8. We have largely been introduced to these things, but we have not been trained in them. I received more consistent and better training for Horizon - for months and with handouts and gurus and an assortment of support material and heralding, I might add - and we never even acquired it. I think I have more Horizon chops than I do Twitter chops.

Halfway through the program staff was given more time to delve into items, but that isn't what staff were largely complaining about when it came to the issue of time. They didn't want more time to delve; they wanted more time to set aside all of the things they do every day to even get to a computer and pursue this at all. To paint that dynamic as time well spent would be disingenuous at best. And most part-timers? Forget about it.

That there was so many staff members that opted not to participate at all is equally telling, but this is par for the course in large organizations given choices. With an organization this size you will always have a large contingent of people who will not participate in anything except the bare minimum of work as long as exercises and training remain optional. That is true for libraries and retail stores and garbage collectors and hospitals and universities...any industry you want to pick. If it's optional, it's going to be treated like an option...and how will staff at large benefit from that and the lessons within it? The self-access mode of training only works if people are invested in the outcome. Prizes is not an outcome.

If this or something like it were offered again I would be hesitant to participate. Half of this I know (or know enough about to know I wouldn't want to use it) and it largely left me with just enough information to be puzzled sitting next to someone else trying to figure it out. There is no substitute for bonafide training, and CML should largely shirk methods that suggest that optional time-consuming checklists are adequate replacements.

It's hard to argue with "success", but I gave it my best shot. Mind you, not because I'm a contrarian, but because I think there are useful things here that, given their proper due, might benefit staff and customers in more than an oblique way. personally, it didn't make me Scott 2.0 or anything. More like Scott 1.2 and a half maybe.

#22 - MOLDI (aka, Over Drive, aka, what?)

Much like it's namesake, this is the thing that's so old it's new again, like a sheen of fungus spreading over a log that, given enough time, turns into penicilin.

This is a service that, while CML has had a relationship with it for some time, hasn't rerally cracked the shell of the avergae customer. I've never had a customer come up to me about digital downloads or books (or anything else except for music) or how to get them. Most of the regular customers of our collection are still die-hard hardware users: cassettes and CDs, please. The stuff may circulate (I've heard the stats, "They're always checked out!") but you wouldn't know it.

The largest issue I've seen with MOLDI is that its collection is unappealing (old) and what is new can't always be had. Also, until rec3ently, you couldn't use it with the most popular digital device on the market: iPods. Now that you can, it's too late: iTunes sells what people want at a fraction of the cost (which they're willing to pay if they can own a good title) and without the horrible browsing interface, the works-when-it-wants-to website, and the front page full of titles that are largely unappealing to anyone under the age of 40.

It's a great idea, but because it's free, it's kind of a trade-off that doesn't pan out. You get what you pay for, and MOLDI too often proves it.

#21: Podcasts

Guess what: as a podcaster, I was already familiar with this one too.

I am a diehard iTunes man, and I recommend it to anyone looking to dig around and have cool content come to them. There are a ton of things out there, probably a podcast for just about anything you can imagine. It's like having a radio show in your pocket that you can start and stop whenever you want, and that never goes away.

I grab a lot of DJ mixes, but I also have my share of NPR-like talkie shows, with an emphasis on writing and poetry pods.

#18: Web 2.0 presents "Esnips"

If you do a lot of onine work, storage is always an issue. You either have to carry flash cards or thumb drives or laptops to have your work with you. With eSnips, and sites like it, you just upload files and organzie them online and you can acceess them from any computer.

The thing I like about ESnips is that it's fast and it's simple. Doesn't run a bunch of bells and whistles, or at least you don't need to fire them up to do a simple thing. It does require some trust on the part of the host, but they dont' seem too invasive...yet.

I recommend the site, and you can get 5 GB for free, so that's nice.
http://www.esnips.com

#19: CML Toolbox presents StumbleUpon

Well, hello, StumbleUpon.

This was probably the greatest find out of everything this entire exercise has had to offer. Thanks to the toolbox I came across the StumbleUpon site and woaw: instant gratification. I have already recommended that site at large to people I know.

Just when you think you've seen everything the internet has to offer, you plug in some interest tags and bam! New worlds fall in your lap.

THIS one was sweet.

#16: Wikipediasandblog

Despite being online an insane amount, I've never really jumped on the communal wiki blog thing. I like Wikipedia and all, but it's a heavily policed sort of thing so it maintains some standard. Most other ones just look like blogs or they try to be too may things at once, so you hardly get anything out of it if you don't participate all of the time. I just think a good blog/journal community does this sort of thing better.

Anyhow, I edited an entry under Favortie Albums, which was kind of fun to read through once I figured out who was saying what. I was surprised no one had broken their text out so that it was clear when they started and stopped talking. I did.

Peep it here:
http://learnandplaycml.pbwiki.com/Favorite-Album

#11: It's a LibraryThang

This one was also a bit of a steal for me, as I already used LibraryThing. I've never been able to settle between it and Shelfari, but I think I might use Shelfari a little more. More people I know seem to be on it, so my recommendations are a little more frequent and useful. I use neither service enough to be proficient, and neither records even a smidgen of my personal library to date, but I do occassionally sit down during down time and have at it a little.

It's a cool source to check out what similar readers might hip you to.

#9: Don't Feed the Librarians

I had to redo this one because I posted a link to the feed and didn't do an entry on teh feed.

Considering I read Library Journal when it hits my radar, it seemed the most beneficial to sign up for LJ feeding. If the feed were set-up through a service I use with mroe regularity than what I'm using for this project, it would be kind of sweet. In fact, this is a feed I'll likely take into my non-work online activity so I can stay abreast of industry developments.

Feeds in general are a good thing, as I've said before, but only if you can manage and access them regularly.

Feed me!

This one was a bit of a steal for me: I develop content online (DJ mixes and a monthly poetry column) that people sign up for, so I'm familiar with the technology.

Clearly feeds are awesome, though I tend to be more music-based with mine. I typically have enough action in my inbox without adding dozens of feeds to it I'll never appreacite 100% because, you know, I'm always being fed.

I recommend them for people dpeending on how much they uise their computer. If you use it a lot (daily), feeds can be very nifty. If you don't, you'll get fed so much stuff you'll never get into it.

Mashing

I was largely unsatisifed with my previous mashup.
This one's better.

Mashups are pretty cool, and there are some very inventive ones out there.
i've even seen some that were deceptively realistic and misleading!

#12 - Tweety

While Twitter is extremely popular it isn't a tool I foresee a use for personally.
It involves a level of micro-managing and access to technology on a daily basis that I simply do not have at work.

I prefer more considered information from people (in more readable forms), and also find the actual information gleaned from Twitter accounts largely unnecessary.

My grade of Twitter: C-

#16 task - Ogling Docs

Google Docs is a great tool if you do very simple stuff. It's not as intense as Word, but if you just type up easy stuff, it's cool. Of course the accessibility of certain things at all times is a big plus.

The drawback for me was having to use yet ANOTHER service that is similar enough to one I already use that I am unlikely to use the new one, or make a switch.

If you don't work on anything too reliant on styles or graphics or whatever - anything fancy - you'll find some merit in this tool.

Library Wiki-wiki-wiki-wiki

(A cookie for the person who can tell us what hip-hop song the title of this entry is referring to.)


While CML has become sick, absolutely SICK with wikis, I thought I'd explore another library's attempt to be on the cutting edge: Des moines, Iowa!
http://desmoinespubliclibrary.pbwiki.com/

Their wiki is a spartan affair, but it is loaded with DM history that anyone who is allowed to post can ask questions about and receive information about instantly. Like all wikis it is a tool that is largely what you make of it, and as a long-term account of information with quick-turnaround should the wind of information change, it works. Most wikis do if they get traffic.

This isn't as groundbreaking as it seems at first glance: CMLSi has featured an open forum for years that while largely unused, is the basis for the modern wiki.

Library 2.0 (or rather, Library 1.2)

Believe me, I get it. I think the philosophy - and it is more philosophy than guide - has a lot of potential in the right environment, with the right resources, and the right forum for this type of integrative interaction to take place.

CML does a lot of things right. For this one to take place it has to take root in the people who have to implement it - staff - and that might take longer than anyone anticipated, even with this project in place. Where is the sharing, the public discourse? How much time is truly being devoted to development even with this introductory device?

Time will tell whether the commitment was worthwhile or even enough.

YouTubin': It's not just for patrons anymore

I'll be honest with you CML: this task was an easy one. Me and YouTube go way back (even before we lifted the dreaded filter!) so finding a clip wasn't a problem for me; it was finding one that wouldn't get me fired, but would still be worth the trouble of your visit.

To wit:


No one loves Sade more than I, and I think it in CML's best interest to inform you that if she ever called me up and asked me to run away with her, you aren't receiving a two week's notice.

Delicious, baby

Delicious: it's not just that really smooth cat you hang out on the corner with anymore.

Thanks to this website you can build a list of favorites (and import one as I understand it) so thta you can access your favorites from anywhere. Not bad, so long as you keep a Delicious window open.

You'll have practically no use for this site if you use a single computer most of the time. If, however, you find yourself on the road a lot, using lotsof different computers regularly, or are just curious to network with others who may have similar interests that dead-end at a bookmark, you will find some merit in it.

Some interesting stats:

- The McDonalds Monopoly 2006 Rare Piece List has 90 people signed up on it. That's 88 more people than the Classic Toy Trains Magazine. What a rip!

- That's also almost 70 people more than the Make Fake Snot bookmark! Where are people's priorities?

You can see my Delicious page (no biting!) here:
http://delicious.com/scottwoods

I DJ!

Hi everyone, I posted an episode to my podcast, Scott s Groove Locker.

Click this link to check it out:
Episode 3 - That Dance Party Upstairs

- scottsgroovelocker

Decorating for Halloween

This is the first week I've not practically jumped on the new checklist items the same day. Recently released stats say that about 403 staffers have signed up for the initial blog stage, about half the staff.

Wow, I'm a real slacker!

I am swamped at Parsons getting Halloween decorations together. I know it's September, but if you want to launch on October 1, that's the way you do it. I'm making a 3-D diorama, complete with fence, scary stuff and a tombstone if I can score the material.

The crowning jewel is a 6-foot+ mummy that's nearly complete. Not sure what his name is yet, but it's definitely a he. I'll post pics.

This time around I wanted to create some more permanent display pieces, so I had some chicken wire bought. Really it's more like fencing than traditional chickenwire, which as it turns out is great for big pieces, but harder to work with.

I can't do display work without tunes or a movie running, so I've squeezed in some quality watching the last couple of days in our spooky basement: The Dirty Dozen, Jeepers Creepers, Awake, and Mad Max (all courtesy of Parson's shelves!). I haven't even touched my iPod yet!

I'm feeling the crunch, but that's mostly my fault. I should have started this stuff a week ago, but if you now me at all, you know I thrive under the pressure.

Back to the mines!

Graphic Editing, Son!

Image by Cool Text: Logo and Button Generator - Create Your Own

Digging for Flickr

So this week we are to get down with Flickr, the picture site. Seeing as how it was a site called Flickr, I dug for a nose-related mash-up:

The Ground Rules

It is difficult to know where The Lines are in work-initiated projects like this.

On one hand, they want you to have fun with it and in this instance, have left enough latitude for staff to incorporate journals or blogs already in use. On the other, there is the general internet rule that you should never put anything online that you wouldn't want a supervisor (potential or existing) to see, even if it is personal and generated in time off the clock.

I don't mind admitting (and this revelation will surprise few who know me to even a nominal degree) that I tend to take to jobs and deal with institutions with a M*A*S*H*-like mentality; that while a job is and should be work, it should be fun and amenable to as many personality types as it can bear. Not always a perfect course, but it's made a difference in the places I've worked more than it's gotten me in trouble. (I'd venture to a ratio of 20:1. *)

So, some ground rules here, yes? For our new-fangled, work-related, job-imitating-art-mashing outlet of self-expression:

1) I will post nothing I wouldn't say to a co-worker to their face (assuming I thought it in my best interest to say anything at all).

2) I will not curse. I'm a poet, and I'm a good enough poet to navigate a point without offending someone with vulgar word choices (though I am not offended by such language in kind, return or in general). Essentially, we have here a journal a grandmother could love (if she could understand all of the big words and oh-so contrary 21st ventury ideas).

3) I will assume that people of a supervisor capacity will indeed read it. Better safe than sorry.

4) I will not edit comments.

So let's see what comes of this experiment, yes? Let us plumb the depths of daily library life and see what's happening behind all of those beehives and horn-rimmed glasses and pointy stilletos (which I don't mind telling you make my calves pop like a Greek god's, but are dreadful on my fallen arches).


* = 20 being acts of Hawkeye/Trapper-like bedevilment and 1 representing having my hand slapped for some infraction related to not making work boring.

Hola

I'm Scott Woods and I'm trying out this blog for work.
Basically it's so we can be comfortable utilizing new technologies that are about five years old.

Off to the shelves!