October 29 - November 4, week 8: Images and embedding

This week we look at ways to store and share images online. We look at a way to create engaging images that make people WANT to read your message. We also learn how to add images from other sources to a blog post.

THINGS FOR THIS WEEK
Thing 12. Upload an image to your blog.
Thing 13. Get a flickr account and upload the image and add a few tags.
Thing 14. Use an image generator to describe your progress so far.

Post:
Embed the image from Thing 12 into a blog post.
Embed the image from Thing 14 into a blog post.

Lots of people have already done Thing 12, so mark it off on the Progress Chart now.

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This week is brought to you by User Generated Content.

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ABOUT USER GENERATED CONTENT
People are publishing their own information on the web and using sites outside of libraries to store, categorise, retrieve and access this. They are depending on each other as information resources. Even when our "stuff" is better, many people are choosing the most convenient online source rather than libraries. Our challenge is to become a more convenient online resource. A service like Picture Australia (see below) harnesses user generated content to enhance the National Library of Australia.

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A NOTE ABOUT COPYRIGHT
Kate Makowiecka, the Murdoch University Copyright Coordinator, has made a post for the 23 Things blog outlining some considerations when you add your material to online sites.

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ABOUT IMAGE GENERATORS
Image generators are websites you can use to add your own text to images like tattoos, church signs, an etch-a-sketch or a speech bubble from Hugh Laurie's mouth.

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ABOUT FLICKR
Flickr is a free photo sharing site now owned by Yahoo. Photos have tags and descriptions. It is a social site - so people have profiles, join groups, comment on each others photos, add their photos to group sets. You can subscribe to the RSS feed of particular sets, or to tags, or to all images uploaded by another user - so a photostream could work like a newsletter . RSS makes it easy to embed images in other sites.

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HOW LIBRARIES ARE USING FLICKR

• Picture Australia

The National Library of Australia invites individuals to contribute to Picture Australia, their public archive of Australian images, by uploading them to Flickr and joining one of these two groups - Picture Australia: People, places and events or Picture Australia: Ourtown.

• 
  
  365 libs project

The Flickr 365 libs
project involves libraries posting 365 photos of between April 2007/2008. Amanda, Gwyn and Lisa have been uploading our photos. You can see some of our 365libs photos here . If you would like to add some photos of the library to the 365libs project, procedures to do this are here, G:\Common\LET\365libs.

Here are some of Curtin University Library's 365libs photos .

• Display of Art Competition winners from Dowling College Library

• "On this day" book display at the Clemens and Alcuin Libraries

• American Library Associations Banned Books Week photo pool of events around the country.

• Penn State Libraries Open House 2007. Staff and students all contributed to the pool of photos from the big Open House event, where the State Library of Pennsylvania has a fun day devoted to helping the students find out more about the library.

• Virtual Tour of Lackman Library

• A Guide to the Government Documents Collection and the How to use the Microfische machines sets from Z. Smith Reynolds Library

• Exeter Public Library have a Flickr badge, showing recent photos in the library, in the sidebar of their blog.

• Special mention - LOL Pols group . Not library. Is political. Photos of Australian politicians captioned like LOLcats

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FURTHER READING

Get Flickrtastic Andrea Mercado, Web Junction

Ten Ways to Use Flickr in Your Libraries: 15 Minutes of Flickr Michael Stephens

31 Flavours - Things to do with Flickr in Libraries P. F. Anderson, Web Junction

7 Things you should know about Creative Commons Educause

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FUN SITE OF THE WEEK:

Mr Picassohead

Thing 14 - Generate an image to describe your progress

Why? Create an engaging message people want to read

Use an image generator and create an image to describe your progress with the 23 Things so far. Embed the image in your blog.


For inspiration, here are some images generated by the original "Learning 2.0" participants at PLCMC.

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Here's some instructions for SignGenerator.org.

1. Generate your image and the scroll down to the "Get HTML" link.


2. When the page displays, find the embed code and put your cursor on it.


3. Use (CTRL) A to select all the code


4. Use (CTRL) C to copy the code (or however you usually do it)


5. Go to your blog and create a new post. On the "Edit Html" tab, paste in the code.

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OTHER SITES TO TRY

http://www.imagegenerator.org/
http://www.famousdefaces.com/
http://www.hetemeel.com/index.php?page=dynamicimages
http://www.txt2pic.com/toons/
http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/

The “Generator blog” has heaps of ideas - http://generatorblog.blogspot.com/ .

Googling “image generators” works well, as does adding a term like “church sign” or “tattoo” or "postit" .

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IF YOU WANT MORE:
Check out JibJab , where you can upload a picture of someone's face and make clips of them dancing - like this one I made of Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey .

Thing 13 - Upload your image to Flickr

Join Flickr, then upload the image you used in Thing 12.

Why? To share images online

1. CREATE AN ACCOUNT

Go to Flickr

Select "Create My Account"

If you are not already a member of Yahoo!, then select "Sign up" at the bottom of the "Sign into Yahoo!" screen and join Yahoo! Enter the required data and select "Create my Account"

When you have successfully signed up, you will see a screen that asks "Ready to experience Flickr?". Select Continue

Select "Create a new account".

2. UPLOAD

Select "Upload your first photo"

Step 1. Choose photos - when you select this button, you will immediately browse the files on your PC.

Double click on the image you want, then select "Upload photos".

3. DESCRIBE

Select "Describe your photos"

Add a tilte, description and some tags.

Select "Save this batch"

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IF YOU WANT MORE:
Explore Flickr Toolbox 100+ Tools for Flickr addicts. It includes tools like:

• Spell With Flickr - Spell any word you want, this site grabs pictures of letters to spell it out.


• Fastr - Presents you with random photos from Flickr; you have to guess the tag they have in common.


• Hamster Sudoku - Uses images of hamsters from Flickr for you to play a picture version of the popular game.

Thing 12: Upload an image to your blog

Take an image with a digital camera and embed it in your blog.

Why: Communication and literacy are no longer just about text

1. GET AN IMAGE
Use your own digital camera or borrow the library one from Mike’s office.
Take a photo of something suitable to display on a work blog.
Upload the image to your H: drive.

If you do not want to use your own image, then you can use one from this directory on the intranet: G:\Common\LET\23 Things\Thing 12


2. POST THE IMAGE TO YOUR BLOG
Go to your blog and start a new post.
Find the "Add image" icon and click on it.


Select BROWSE and browse to the directory with your image.
Change the size and position if you like.
Select UPLOAD.

3. MOVE THE IMAGE
When the image is uploaded, it will appear at the top of your post. Drag and drop it wherever you want it.

4. When you are ready to publish, select "Publish Post".

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IF YOU WANT MORE
Go to Flickr and use the option in the Advanced Search to specify that you want an image released under Creative Commons. Embed that image in your blog, remembering to include the link to the image name and the person who uploaded it.

Uploading photos, image generators and using Creative Commons

This post was prepared for the 23 Things programme by Kate Makoweicka, Copyright Co-ordinator for Murdoch University.

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Uploading photos and using image generators

Firstly, the photos:

• you are the creator and will own the copyright in the photograph;
• there is no copyright in a person’s image – usually, if you are taking photos in a public place, you don’t need to get permission from each person in the shot;
• however, you may want to consider the feelings of anyone snapped: you never know who may come across these photos, whether inadvertently or as the result of a deliberate search, e.g. googling by a prospective employer;
• so, especially if you’re taking photos of friends or family, you may want to let them know that their image will be going out to the world via Flickr and your blog.

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Secondly, using image generators:

Like many other websites, simply by using these services you are agreeing to abide by their terms of use, e.g. http://www.slideshare.net/terms.

Briefly:

• the facilities are provided for your personal, non-commercial use (although Slideshare encourages its use for conference presentations, etc.);
• you keep copyright in anything (e.g. PowerPoints, photos, etc) you upload to, or create on the site, but you grant the owner and any other user of the site a non-exclusive licence to use it;
• you must have the permission of anyone pictured in an image that you upload;
• text and images you upload to or create on the site can be seen by anyone, and can be found by search engines;

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Creative Commons for creators

As the Educause article notes, copyright automatically applies (for the term of your life + 70 years) to a work when it takes material form – even if you don’t want to lock down your music, photos, short stories, etc., unless you do something about it that’s what happens.

Creative Commons licences allow a creator to reserve some of their copyrights (i.e. to copy, publish, adapt, communicate, and perform) rather than all of them; to specify the uses (e.g. commercial v. non-commercial) that can be made of the work or an adaptation; and even to put your work straight into the Public Domain.

Look here for more about CC in general: http://creativecommons.org/learnmore; and here for Australian CC licences: http://creativecommons.org/international/au/

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Creative Commons for consumers/recreators

Creative Commons licenced works are usually free for non-commercial and educational use. They don’t have to be reported to CAL for royalty payment, and can be used in Blackboard etc. rather than having to go into ECMS (the ‘share alike’ requirement doesn’t prevent their use in password protected websites – I checked!).

There is heaps of stuff available: you can search for CC works via Google, Flickr etc., as well as via Creative Commons itself http://search.creativecommons.org/.

Other sites, such as the Australian Creative Resource Online (ACRO) http://www.acro.edu.au/, offer audio and visual bits and pieces with CC licences as the raw material for people to mix and make their own new works or in collaboration – and they encourage you to submit your own work back to ACRO.

Oprah and Bill dance for 23 things

This shows the output of JibJab - the "IF YOU WANT MORE" site for Thing 14. You need to use Firefox to watch it.

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

October 22 - 28, week 7: Tagging and Social Bookmarking

This week we look at what happens when thousands of people add their own subject headings to things online - tagging.

We'll also look at what happens when thousands of people choose their favourite websites, tag them, store them online and then share them with each other- social bookmarking.

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This week you will:
Thing 10 : Compare a search using del.icio.us with Connotea, kartoo, dogpile, zuula and google. Blog about your findings
Thing 11: Join del.icio.us and save and tag a few sites

Blog post: What did you discover when you compared different search methods?

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The Learning 2.0 at Mac blog post about Tagging, Social bookmarking and folksomies gives a very comprehensive description .

Here's the Commoncraft video that demystifies social bookmarking: Social bookmarking in Plain English

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Examples of libraries using social tagging/bookmarking

QUT library Creative Industries subject guide now includes a del.icio.us tag cloud which has also been incorporated into the relevant unit's page on Blackboard (the Uni’s Learning Management System). It was live 2 weeks after they first had the idea.

University of Pennsylvania has created it's own social tagging site called Penn Tags , where staff and students can create "projects" covering material both owned and not owned by the library.

Yarra Plenty Regional Library in Melbourne have incorporated into their catalogue subject headings from popular “catalogue and share your own book collection” site, LibraryThing.

Ann Arbor district library allows users to directly add their own tags in the catalogue.

The new version of the Innopac Opac, Encore, promises user generated tags.

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Further reading (optional)

7 Things you should know about social bookmarking Educause guide.


The social bookmarking faceoff from the Read/Write web


Angela Kille's presentation about social bookmarking for the Michigan State University Libraries


A librarian's guide to creating 2.0 subject guides by Ellyssa Kroski


The Brave New World of Social Bookmarking: Everything You Always Wanted to Know But Were Too Afraid to Ask (PDF), Amanda Etches-Johnson.


The Hive Mind: Folksonomies & User-Based Tagging, Ellyssa Kroski.

Talking with Talis: the Library 2.0 Folksonomy Gang. [This is a podcast]

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Fun site for the week
Google image labeller game. Log in as guest.

You play against someone else in the world to apply labels to an image - trying to get as many as possible without using the same terms. (It's a sneaky way that google gets real people to tag images in their image search - but it's fun at the same time)

Thing 11: Join del.icio.us and save and tag a few sites

Why? To organise and retrieve useful websites and share them with like-minded people

1. Register at del.icio.us . (Pay attention to the password requirements, and check you email inbox to complete the registration)

2. Install the Firefox extension, or the buttons on your toolbar.

3. Bookmark and tag the Murdoch Library 23 Things blog page using one of these options
3.1 Right clicking on the link to the page and selecting "tag this link"
3.2 Going to the page and then going to the top of your browser and selecting the "deli.cio.us" menu and choosing "tag this page"
3.3 Going to the page and then choosing the "post to del.icio.us" button at the top of the page
3.4 Going to your account at del.icio.us and selecting "post" and pasting in the URL

4. Add a description. Often cutting and pasting a paragraph from the page saved is useful.

5. Add some tags and save.

6. Next time you are on a webpage you would like to save for later or find again, save it to del.icio.us.

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IF YOU WANT MORE:
1. Check out the items saved under this typical user's account kgreenhill.
2. Check out who else has saved the Murdoch Library 23 Things web page and click on their profiles to see what else they have saved.
3. Work out how to embed a tag cloud of your del.icio.us account into a post on your blog.

Thing 10 : Compare searching on tagged sites with other sites

Why? To find more precise search tools

Enter the same search term (eg. "Library 2.0") in the searchbox at the following sites. Compare the results and blog about it.

• del.icio.us - popular social bookmarking site. User tagged (search without quote marks).


• Connotea - "Free online reference management for all researchers, clinicians and scientists". User tagged .


• CiteULike - "a free online source to organise your academic papers". User tagged.


• Murdoch University Library catalogue subject search - Taxonomy.


• google - Keyworded.


• dogpile - compiles searches from many search engines. Keyworded.


• zuula - compiles searches from many search engines. Keyworded.


• kartoo - outputs sites visually as a series of "maps". Keyworded with interelationship of terms shown.

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IF YOU WANT MORE:

This clip shows what happens when information is digital, so it is no longer stored in just one place and everything is keyworded - Information R/evolution. It is from Michael Wesch at the centre for Digital Ethnography at Kansas State University.

October 15 - 21, week 6: Online tools and applications and Wikis

This week we look at tools to help you collaborate online - google documents and wikis.

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Tasks for this week are:
Thing 8. Create a google document and share it with another participant.
Thing 9. Create your own wiki on PBwiki and email the address to Kathryn. (libkat@gmail.com)

Your blog post: Make a link to your wiki. Can you think of other situations where collaborative documents / wikis would be useful in your work? How might students use them?

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Google documents
Google documents lets you create a document (wordprocessed, spreadsheet or slide presentation) straight onto the web for sharing with others if you'd like. You can see who has changed what and "roll back" to an earlier version with one click. You cannot do quite as much as with Microsoft Office or Open Office, but it is great for shared preliminary drafts.

This little clip Google Docs in Plain English made for Google by the Commoncraft folk explains the why and a bit about the how:

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Wikis
A wiki is a web page that you can create online using simple tools. Wiki wiki in Hawaiian means swift. The first wikis were created by programmers who were required to write documentation. They wanted something they could create easily, was accessible from the web and that allowed them to work collaboratively. You are editing a wiki when you record your progress on the 23 Things progress chart.

Here's a clip that explains how wikis work, Wikis in Plain English.




Wikis can be used to:

Plan events: Library 2.0 on the Loose unconference
Create directories: Library success: a best practices wiki
Record procedures: Dallas Library policy and procedures
Store files for sharing: Library grid
Create encyclopedic works: Wikipedia

For a more comprehensive list check out the LISWiki

Many wikis use a special wiki markup language, which is far simpler than HTML, but harder to use than a wordprocessing type of interface. Wikipedia uses a wiki called Mediawiki, where users make updates using wiki language.

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Optional extra reading from the Learning 2.0 @ Mac blog

What’s the difference? Choosing the right wiki
TWiki, WetPaint, Stikipad, PHPWiki, SeedWiki, PBWiki, Wikispaces, MoinMoin, Netcipia… with all these different wikis to choose from you might have a difficult time deciding which wiki is most suited to your project. A tool you might find useful for comparing the features of various wikis is Wikimatrix. The Wikimatrix website has several useful features for comparing any number of more than 80 wiki engines listed. So what are some of the features common to Wikis & what are some differences?

• Wikis allow you to assign different access permissions to different users. The site creator (Administrator) can assign other Administrators or Moderators to the Wiki. Wikis typically have several levels of contributors with varying degrees of access, such as Admin, Mod, Writer, Registered User, and Guest.



• Many wikis allow users to subscribe to them either via email or RSS feeds. Some allow users to subscribe to specific pages and keep apprised of recent edits.



• Personalization of user accounts can be quite different from wiki to wiki; some allow for the creation of detail user profiles, private messaging, and commenting upon individual profiles.

• Many wikis are tiered with both free accounts and ‘premium memberships’ that often have added features such as a higher page limits or greater storage capacity.



• Pages edit history & Revert. Wikis allow users to view the history of specific pages, and mark up recent changes. Many have more advanced edit comparison features that may allow users to compare the changes to an entry over the course of months! Wikis also typically have a revert feature that allows those with sufficient access permissions to rollback a page to an earlier edit.



• WYSIWYG. Not only do most wikis allow users to use Wikitext instead of Html, but wikis also have “What You See Is What You Get” editors that make it even easier for anyone to contribute!

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Further readings (optional)

Chawner, B., & Lewis, P.H. (2006). Wiki Wiki Webs?: new ways to communicate in a web environment. Information Technology and Libraries, 25(1), 33-43.

Clyde, L. (2005). Wikis. Teacher Librarian, 32(4), 54 – 56.

Farkas, M. G. (2005). Using Wikis to Create Online Communities. Web Junction.

Singel, R. (2006). Veni, Vidi, Wiki. Wired News.

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Fun site for the week

Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia that anyone can edit,unless the server goes down, in which case no-one can edit it.

Thing 9: Create your own wiki using PBwiki

Thing 9: Create your own wiki using PBwiki
Why? Easy to manage website where you can work with others

Your wiki could be about anything you want. Each page can only be a few sentences if you'd like. To give you an idea, here's my example wiki, libkat .

Here's some theme ideas:

• Document something you do in your job that others would have to know if you won lotto and had to leave work for a life of luxury.


• A page about a hobby or passion


• Plan a holiday and link to useful accommodation sites, places of interest, an itinerary etc


• Collaborate with another participant to make a wiki together


• Make a page linking to sites you visit often for 23 Things and add to it in the next few weeks (eg. 23 Things blog, refdesk blog, your own blog, other participant blogs you read)

HOW TO:

1. Create a public wiki using PBwiki. Ensure that people can see it on the web. They will only be able to edit it if you give them the password. The instructions at the site are very clear.

SCREENCAST: Richard Marchessault has made a two minute screencast, Creating a PBwiki site, which is accessible at the Atomic Learning PBwiki - Wiki workshop page. It is screencast 3 in Part B - choosing and setting up a wiki. The other screencasts tell you about other features of wikis in general and of PBwiki in particular.

2. Use Edit to change the front page and replace what is there. (You need to do this to complete the task)

3. Not essential, but very useful to try:

3.1 Insert one link to an external web site in your page. (Atomic Learning PBwiki - Screencast 1 in Part C Working with PBwiki)

3.2 Make one more wiki page linking off the front page. ( Atomic Learning PBwiki Screencast 5 and 6 Part C Working with PBwiki)

IF YOU WANT MORE:
Try creating a wiki at one of these fee wiki sites: Wikispaces, Wetpaint , SeedWiki, Netcipia , StikiPad, Moinmoin .

Thing 8 - Create and share a google document

Thing 8 - Create and share a google document
Why? Sharable documents wherever you are

Your task: Create a google document listing your 3 favourite movies, books or songs and share it with another participant. Ask them to add their 3 favourites to the list.

HOW TO:

1. Log into gmail

2. Click on documents (third option from left at top)

3. New > document (or try a spreadsheet if you want to get fancy)

4. Enter your favourite movies, books or songs (historical monuments, holiday destinations, chocolate recipes, catalogue records - whatever). Play with formatting if you'd like.

5. Select share

6. To find someone to share with, check the progress wiki for gmail addresses (address must be gmail) or ask someone what theirs is, or use libkat@gmail.com .

7. Enter the email address of your collaborator.

8. In the message, ask the collaborator to add their favourites to the list and to email your gmail address when it's complete.

9. Select "send"

10. Click on "Docs home" or close the window.


IF YOU WANT MORE:

Check out zoho and make a comparison between this and the google suite.

Or - Check out google maps and create an interactive map to embed into your blog or wiki.

October 8 - 14, week 5: Web 2.0 and play week

Fun sites and Web 2.0

Why the fun sites? To show you Web 2.0 .

Web 2.0 is a group of web-based technologies that change the way people relate to information and each other.

According to wikipedia, "The phrase Web 2.0 refers to a perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted services — such as social-networking sites, wikis and folksonomies — which aim to facilitate collaboration and sharing between users".

People using these sites change what they expect from our libraries - online and within our buildings. Libraries that harness these technologies and respond to the new attitudes brought by them are often described as "Library 2.0". The key to Library 2.0 is understanding both the new technologies and our users well enough to tailor new services to better meet user needs. It's not just about trying new tools.

Murdoch University Library services that could be described as "Library 2.0" include our podcasts, Online Librarian IM chat reference, Emerging Technologies Group, 23 Things program, reference desk blog, Flickr account and the 24/7 Learning Common.

So, what are some elements of Web 2.0?

• Users become online content creators (eg. I can has cheezburger involves regular people submitting photos of their cats and other regular people captioning them)

• Software is on the web, not your PC. The tools are "up there" on the web, instead of "down there" on your PC (eg. A couple of years ago, you could only have played something like Boomshine from a CD on your PC ).

• Tools are in perpetual beta. Beta is traditionally the software testing stage before release. Rather than double checking to ensure that every single feature is accurate before releasing a tool, producers release them earlier with many more features and let their community iron out the bugs. (gmail, for example has been in beta ever since February 2007). Users are valuing usefulness over perfection.

• New tools allow regular people to easily create sophisticated products (eg. Using meez.com, you can create an individualised animated cartoon without knowing anything about programming)

• Users are uploading as well as downloading. They used to just get stuff from websites, now they are putting it there too.

• Data becomes a social space. Users have conversations while they consume content (eg. comments on photos at Flickr)

• Mashups. Combinations of information from different tools mixed to make something new (eg. Star Trek meets Monty Python or Library Elf - a site that reminds you what you have out of the library)

• Users are creating sites with an informal, human voice and are beginning to expect this from organizations too.

This presentation explains the elements of Web2.0 and how this affects the power balance between librarians and users. What is Library 2.0 ? (created for the State Library of Queensland Library 2.0 Unconference 10 October 2007)



BLOG POST: Write about a post you've read via RSS in google reader.

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OPTIONAL FURTHER READING:

Abram, Stephen. Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and Librarian 2.0: Preparing for the 2.0 World. Sirsi OneSource, January 2006, 2(1).

Crawford, Walt. Library 2.0 and “Library 2.0.” Cites and Insights. 6:2, Midwinter 2006, pp.1-32.

Maness, Jack M. Library 2.0 Theory: Web 2.0 and Its Implications for Libraries. Webology, 3(2), June 2006.

Miller, Paul Web 2.0: Building the New Library. Ariadne, 42, October 2005.

Library 2.0 Roundup - Redux - a comprehensive compilation of key journal articles and blog posts about Library 2.0 by Jennifer Macaulay of Life as I know it.