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Cathy Oxley

Unpaywall: Free, legal access to scholarly articles! (and a couple of other strategies)... - 11 views

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    Unpaywall.org lets searchers access full-text research papers from its index of 10 million legally loaded, open-access articles.
beth gourley

The Library in the New Age - The New York Review of Books - 0 views

  • four fundamental changes in information technology since humans learned to speak.
  • around 4000 BC, humans learned to write.
  • the invention of writing was the most important technological breakthrough in the history of humanity
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  • second technological shift when the codex replaced the scroll sometime soon after the beginning of the Christian era. By the third century AD, the codex—that is, books with pages that you turn as opposed to scrolls that you roll
  • eventually included differentiated words (that is, words separated by spaces
  • other reader's aids
  • codex, in turn, was transformed by the invention of printing with movable type in the 1450s.
  • technology of printing did not change for nearly four centuries, but the reading public grew larger and larger, thanks to improvements in literacy, education, and access to the printed word.
  • fourth great change, electronic communication
  • movable type to the Internet, 524 years;
  • writing to the codex, 4,300 years;
  • codex to movable type, 1,150 years;
  • would argue that the new information technology should force us to rethink the notion of information itself.
  • Internet to search engines, nineteen years
  • search engines to Google's algorithmic relevance ranking, seven years;
  • continued at such a rate as to seem both unstoppable and incomprehensible.
  • continuity I have in mind has to do with the nature of information itself or, to put it differently, the inherent instability of texts.
  • every age was an age of information, each in its own way, and that information has always been unstable.
    • beth gourley
       
      premise
  • pace of change seems breathtaking:
  • news has always been an artifact and that it never corresponded exactly to what actually happened.
  • News is not what happened but a story about what happened.
  • aving learned to write news, I now distrust newspapers as a source of information, and I am often surprised by historians who take them as primary sources for knowing what really happened
  • newspapers should be read for information about how contemporaries construed events, rather than for reliable knowledge of events
  • We live in a time of unprecedented accessibility to information that is increasingly unreliable. Or do we?
  • as messages that are constantly being reshaped in the process of transmission
  • Instead of firmly fixed documents, we must deal with multiple, mutable texts. By studying them skeptically on our computer screens, we can learn how to read our daily newspaper more effectively—and even how to appreciate old books.
  • Unbelievers used to dismiss Henry Clay Folger's determination to accumulate copies of the First Folio edition of Shakespeare as the mania of a crank.
  • When Folger's collection grew beyond three dozen copies, his friends scoffed at him as Forty Folio Folger.
  • eighteen of the thirty-six plays in the First Folio had never before been printed
  • only two were reprinted without change from earlier quarto editions
  • extual stability never existed in the pre-Internet eras.
  • Piracy was so pervasive in early modern Europe that best-sellers could not be blockbusters as they are today
  • They abridged, expanded, and reworked texts as they pleased, without worrying about the authors' intentions.
  • question in perspective by discussing two views of the library, which I would describe as grand illusions—grand and partly true.
  • o put it positively, there is something to be said for both visions, the library as a citadel and the Internet as open space.
  • We have come to the problems posed by Google Book Search.
  • Google proposal seemed to offer a way to make all book learning available to all people, or at least those privileged enough to have access to the World Wide Web
  • will open up possibilities for research involving vast quantities of data, which could never be mastered without digitization
  • Electronic Enlightenment, a project sponsored by the Voltaire Foundation of Oxford
  • scholars will be able to trace references to individuals, books, and ideas throughout the entire network of correspondence that undergirded the Enlightenment
  • notably American Memory sponsored by the Library of Congress[1] and the Valley of the Shadow created at the University of Virginia[2] —have demonstrated the feasibility and usefulness of databases on this scale
  • will make research libraries obsolete
  • 2. Although Google pursued an intelligent strategy by signing up five great libraries, their combined holdings will not come close to exhausting the stock of books in the United States.
  • 1. According to the most utopian claim of the Googlers, Google can put virtually all printed books on-line.
  • If Google missed this book, and other books like it, the researcher who relied on Google would never be able to locate certain works of great importance.
  • On the contrary, Google will make them more important than ever. To support this view, I would like to organize my argument around eight points.
  • For books under copyright, however, Google will probably display only a few lines at a time, which it claims is legal under fair use.
  • 3. Although it is to be hoped that the publishers, authors, and Google will settle their dispute, it is difficult to see how copyright will cease to pose a problem.
  • But nothing suggests that it will take account of the standards prescribed by bibliographers, such as the first edition to appear in print or the edition that corresponds most closely to the expressed intention of the author.
  • Google defines its mission as the communication of information—right now, today; it does not commit itself to conserving texts indefinitely.
  • it has not yet ventured into special collections, where the rarest works are to be found. And of course the totality of world literature—all the books in all the languages of the world—lies far beyond Google's capacity to digitize
  • Electronic enterprises come and go. Research libraries last for centuries. Better to fortify them than to declare them obsolete
  • 5. Google will make mistakes.
  • Once we believed that microfilm would solve the problem of preserving texts. Now we know better.
  • 6. As in the case of microfilm, there is no guarantee that Google's copies will last.
  • all texts "born digital" belong to an endangered species
  • 7. Google plans to digitize many versions of each book, taking whatever it gets as the copies appear, assembly-line fashion, from the shelves; but will it make all of them available?
  • 4. Companies decline rapidly in the fast-changing environment of electronic technology.
  • No single copy of an eighteenth-century best-seller will do justice to the endless variety of editions. Serious scholars will have to study and compare many editions, in the original versions, not in the digitized reproductions that Google will sort out according to criteria that probably will have nothing to do with bibliographical scholarship.
  • 8. Even if the digitized image on the computer screen is accurate, it will fail to capture crucial aspects of a book.
  • ts physical aspects provide clues about its existence as an element in a social and economic system; and if it contains margin notes, it can reveal a great deal about its place in the intellectual life of its readers.
  • Rare book rooms are a vital part of research libraries, the part that is most inaccessible to Google. But libraries also provide places for ordinary readers to immerse themselves in books,
  • Meanwhile, I say: shore up the library.
  • I also say: long live Google, but don't count on it living long enough to replace that venerable building with the Corinthian columns.
  • he research library still deserves to stand at the center of the campus, preserving the past and accumulating energy for the future.
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    The library as citadel and as the open internet both play an important and distinguishable role.
Yvonne Barrett

Directory of open access journals - 9 views

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    Welcome to the Directory of Open Access Journals. This service covers free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals. We aim to cover all subjects and languages. There are now 4422 journals in the directory. Currently 1690 journals are searchable at article level. As of today 323198 articles are included in the DOAJ service.
Nancy Prentice

21st-Century Libraries: The Learning Commons | Edutopia - 0 views

  • Libraries are reinventing themselves as content becomes more accessible online and their role becomes less about housing tomes and more about connecting learners and constructing knowledge.
  • Libraries are reinventing themselves as content becomes more accessible online and their role becomes less about housing tomes and more about connecting learners and constructing knowledge
  • Printed books still play a critical role in supporting learners, but digital technologies offer additional pathways to learning and content acquisition. Students and teachers no longer need a library simply for access. Instead, they require a place that encourages participatory learning and allows for co-construction of understanding from a variety of sources.
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  • the space does include paper books and physical artifacts, as well as flexible furniture and an open environment, digital content encourages students to explore, play, and delve deeper into subjects they may not otherwise experience
  • a flexible space with moveable chairs, desks, and even bookshelves. Small rooms can be opened up to allow for group projects, and the circulation desk as well as the sides of the stacks are writeable with dry-erase markers to encourage the collaboration and sharing that the previous space had discouraged.
  • the role of the coffeehouse in the birth of the Enlightenment -- it provided "a space where people would get together from different backgrounds, different fields of expertise, and share."
  • interact with the content, the technology, the space, and each other in order to gain context and increase their knowledge.
  • Students and teachers no longer need a library simply for access. Instead, they require a place that encourages participatory learning and allows for co-construction of understanding from a variety of sources.
Ninja Essays

New 15 Best Educational Online Resources - Stephen's Lighthouse - 0 views

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    Online resources are seen as a revolutionary approach towards education due to their convenience and accessibility. However, finding the right set of tools will be crucial for your success as an online learner. You shouldn't forget that the open access to Internet has enabled an immense amount of misinformation to be presented as facts. With the great number of educational online resources, it can be difficult to choose the ones that correspond to your learning style.
Lissa Davies

IDroo Whiteboard for Skype - 0 views

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    "What it is: IDroo is an educational multi user whiteboard that lets students instantly collaborate online.  Everything that is drawn or written on the whiteboard is visible to all participants in real-time.  IDroo supports an unlimited number of meeting participants, the only limitations are computer power and internet connection speed.  There is a professional math typing tool built-in making it easy to teach or work through math problems collaboratively. Best of all, IDroo can be used with Skype! IDroo is free for non-commercial use. Now for the downfall (and this is a HUGE downfall in my humble opinion), IDroo is currently only available for Windows.  I  know, disappointment for us Mac lovers. *sigh*  If you are using a Windows computer this is a great way to collaborate online! How to integrate IDroo into the classroom: IDroo would be a great app for collaborating with other classrooms around the world.  Students can use the multi user whiteboard space to work together, share ideas, and brainstorm.  IDroo would also be fantastic as a way for teachers to tutor students virtually.  Set up an "open lab" time once a week online where students can drop in and get extra help.  Virtual lab times are especially helpful for elementary students who can't dictate their own schedules and often can't stay after school for extra help. Tips: Don't forget to allow IDroo to access Skype API after you download!" iLearn Technology
Anthony Beal

Printable version - Information on the web - OpenLearn - The Open University - 11 views

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    Printable version of SAFARI - Skills in Accessing Finding and Reviewing Information
Judy O'Connell

Hands-on: Checking out library books with Kindle clunky, but awesome - 6 views

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    Public libraries have long lived by the "Blockbuster model": require people to drive to a physical location, pick up a physical book, then drive home, only to repeat the driving a few weeks later when the book is due. And how well did that approach work out for Blockbuster as iTunes and Netflix made digital delivery a reality? But books haven't gone digital as quickly as music and then movies did. Early attempts at e-book lending were execeptionally clunky affairs involving special OverDrive software, few choices, and a poor browsing interface. Getting books onto devices involved downloads and USB cables. Enter the Kindle. Amazon's hugely popular e-reader hardware and apps recently opened access to public libraries in the US, which can use the Amazon account and distribution infrastructure to control and distribute time-limited e-books to library patrons. Will we ever drive to physical libraries again? After testing the new system, it's safe to say: yes. Yes we will. But Kindle library lending provides a glimpse of the future rushing so quickly at us.
beth gourley

"Social Media is Here to Stay... Now What?" - 0 views

  • Social media is the latest buzzword
  • Web2.0 means different things to different people
  • Web2.0 was about the perpetual beta
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  • For users, Web2.0 was all about reorganizing web-based practices around Friends
  • typically labeled social networkING sites were never really about networking for most users. They were about socializing inside of pre-existing networks.
  • ACT ONE : NETWORK EFFECTS
  • Friendster was designed as to be an online dating site.
  • MySpace aimed to attract all of those being ejected from Friendster
  • Facebook had launched as a Harvard-only site before expanding to other elite institutions
  • And only in 2006, did they open to all.
  • in the 2006-2007 school year, a split amongst American teens occurred
  • college-bound kids from wealthier or upwardly mobile backgrounds flocked to Facebook
  • urban or less economically privileged backgrounds rejected the transition and opted to stay with MySpace
  • At this stage, over 35% of American adults have a profile on a social network site
  • the single most important factor in determining whether or not a person will adopt one of these sites is whether or not it is the place where their friends hangout.
  • do you know anything about the cluster dynamics of the users
  • all fine and well if everyone can get access to the same platform, but when that's not the case, new problems emerge.
  • ACT TWO : YOUTH VS. ADULTS
  • showcases the ways in which some tools are used differently by different groups.
  • For American teenagers, social network sites became a social hangout space, not unlike the malls
  • Adults, far more than teens, are using Facebook for its intended purpose as a social utility. For example, it is a tool for communicating with the past.
  • dynamic more visible than in the recent "25 Things" phenomena.
  • Adults are crafting them to show-off to people from the past and connect the dots between different audiences as a way of coping with the awkwardness of collapsed contexts.
  • Twitter is all the rage, but are kids using it? For the most part, no.
  • many are leveraging Twitter to be part of a broad dialogue
  • We design social media for an intended audience but aren't always prepared for network effects or the different use cases that emerge when people decide to repurpose their technology.
  • One of the key challenges is learning how to adapt to an environment in which these properties and dynamics play a key role. This is a systems problem.
  • you are probably even aware of how inaccurate the public portrait of risk is
  • ACT THREE : RESHAPING PUBLICS
  • I want to discuss five properties of social media and three dynamics. These are the crux of what makes the phenomena we're seeing so different from unmediated phenomena.
  • 1. Persistence.
  • The bits-wise nature of social media means that a great deal of content produced through social media is persistent by default.
  • You can copy and paste a conversation from one medium to another, adding to the persistent nature of it
  • 2. Replicability.
  • much easier to alter what's been said than to confirm that it's an accurate portrayal of the original conversation.
  • 3. Searchability.
  • Search changes the landscape, making information available at our fingertips
  • 4. Scalability.
  • Conversations that were intended for just a friend or two might spiral out of control and scale to the entire school
  • 5. (de)locatability.
  • This paradox means that we are simultaneously more and less connected to physical space.
  • Those five properties are intertwined, but their implications have to do with the ways in which they alter social dynamics.
  • 1. Invisible Audiences.
  • lurkers who are present at the moment
  • visitors who access our content at a later date or in a different environment
  • having to present ourselves and communicate without fully understanding the potential or actual audience
  • 2. Collapsed Contexts
  • Social media brings all of these contexts crashing into one another and it's often difficult to figure out what's appropriate, let alone what can be understood.
  • 3. Blurring of Public and Private
  • As we are already starting to see, this creates all new questions about context and privacy, about our relationship to space and to the people around us.
  • The key lesson from the rise of social media for you is that a great deal of software is best built as a coordinated dance between you and the users.
  • Social media is not new. M
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    Important summary of how social media works for youth and adults, and how five properties and three dynamics have a systematic affect that we all must deal with.
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    Diigo in education
Carla Shinn

'Here Be Fiction' Launches: New site features ebook fiction available to schools on lib... - 11 views

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    Throughout the year, the website will be available to everyone, with open access to lists of titles, short previews, and reviews, all of which will help librarians and teachers find and select new content. Here Be Fiction will also feature author biographies, publisher overviews, and editorial content focusing on ways to use ebooks in classrooms and school libraries.
Anthony Beal

Tresham College of Further and Higher Education: Opening up access to library borrowing... - 3 views

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    Tresham College of Further and Higher Education has introduced learning resources loan data into the main College reporting system, which has allowed all staff to see the information. This has encouraged the closer integration of learning resources with the curriculum. As one of a series of innovations this has helped almost double the amount of resources borrowed by learners.
Dennis OConnor

How Georgia Tech Has Shown the Perils of SOPA - 4 views

  • This has been a tough week for open education, at least in higher education.  First came the news that Georgia Tech has taken down a 14-year-old student wiki site that allowed discussions and collaboration across courses and across semesters.  Next came the news of more details on proposed intellectual property laws in Congress, dubbed SOPA for Stop Online Piracy Act, that are being drafted in a draconian manner to protect content providers while taking away reasonable “safe harbor” protections for internet site operators.  Despite the nominal differences in these two pieces of legislation, I think that the Georgia Tech FERPA decision has shown just how dangerous SOPA could be to higher education.
  • Bryan Alexander recently summarized a Google+ hangout discussion on the topic of SOPA’s potential affect on higher education, and I think the group hit on some very important points. Under the bill’s terms aggrieved IP holders can cut financial support to such sites, or have them shut down, or have their Web locations blocked at the Domain Name Services (DNS) level.  The US attorney general can apparently create a blacklist of offending Web sites.  Internet service providers (ISPs) would no longer have “safe harbor” protection; instead, they would be liable for content whose publication and access they facilitated. [snip] Safe harbor - this may be the crux of the matter for schools.  If ISPs no longer have safe harbor protection, campuses acting as ISPs will have extra incentive to police existing content, and to enforce more scrutiny of new creations. IT departments will have more work, much as librarians.  Financially strapped institutions will have additional problems. [snip] Fair use - SOPA makes no provision for that 1976 doctrine.  Indeed, schools might find supporting fair use less appealing if infringement risks are more salient.    Risk aversion might lead to decreased fair use claims.
Robin Cicchetti

Do School Libraries Need Books? - Room for Debate Blog - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • constant need to acquire new books
    • Robin Cicchetti
       
      Still need to acquire digital versions. The spending doesn't disappear with the paper.
  • more efficient to work online
  • went beyond stacks and stacks of underutilized books.
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  • Our library is now the most-used space on campus, with collaborative learning areas, classrooms with smart boards, study sections, screens for data feeds from research sites, a cyber cafe, and increased reference and circulation stations for our librarians. It has become a hub where students and faculty gather, learn and explore together.
    • Robin Cicchetti
       
      This is a perfect description of a learning commons.
  • But they need more help from librarians to navigate these resources, so we have also increased our library staff by 25 percent.
    • Robin Cicchetti
       
      Relevance is what saves and builds programs and protects budgets.
  • Cushing Academy today is awash in books of all formats. Many classes continue to use printed books, while others use laptops or e-readers. It is immaterial to us whether students use print or electronic forms to read Chaucer and Shakespeare. In fact, Cushing students are checking out more books than before, making extensive use of e-readers in our library collection. Cushing’s success could inspire other schools to think about new approaches to education in this century.
    • Robin Cicchetti
       
      Diversity of format, open access, increased reading.
  • Holding a book in our hands, we orient ourselves within a larger system.
    • Robin Cicchetti
       
      Strong sensory and nostalgic connections to books and the idea of reading.
  • Who wrote that? Where are the competing voices? How is it organized? By what (and whose) terms is it indexed? Does it have pictures? Can I write in it myself?
    • Robin Cicchetti
       
      Is critical thinking enhanced by one format over another? I think these skills apply to all formats.
  • knowledge is proximate
    • Robin Cicchetti
       
      Why is knowledge proximate? Global awareness is a goal for every student. What about POV?
  • The digital natives in our schools need to have the experience of getting lost in a physical book, not only for the pure pleasure but also as a way to develop their attention spans, ability to concentrate, and the skill of engaging with a complex issue or idea for an uninterrupted period of time.
    • Robin Cicchetti
       
      It is possible to get lost in text, no matter the format. We see it every day. Students engrossed reading off their iTouch, desktops, laptops, Kindles and Nooks.
  • The printed word long ago lost its position of eminence in the American library.
    • Robin Cicchetti
       
      Studies indicate people are reading more than ever - but not from paper.
  • The tangibility of a traditional book allows the hands and fingers to take over much of the navigational burden: you feel where you are, and this frees up the mind to think.
    • Robin Cicchetti
       
      So many references to the tangible experience of paper. Nobody comments on how heavy a book is, how you can't take that many on your suitcase for vacation because of the weight, or holding it in bed at night. If we are going sensory, I'd rather pack/hold a Kindle.
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    Debate on traditional vs. digital reading continues.
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