Tag Galaxy

Tag Galaxy
This is something I could waste a lot of time with. This is a funky little application that lets you put in a keyword that pulls photos from Flickr tags. This is what I got with "books". You can click on the individual photos and they pop up to allow for closer inspection. This also helps rotate the ball. I'm going to see what it comes up with for "puppy".

Blocked Bytes Week

Blocked Bytes�Week - Home - Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk BlogSeptember 27 - October 4, 2008 is officially Banned Book Week. Really though, we are well past the point of protecting just books. As library blogger Doug Johnson so wonderfully points out, "Americans need the freedom to read more than just books." People are publishing in so many formats, yet filters aggressively block much of this content. Not only are we denying people access to content, but also the experience of seeing how this content is being shared. Wordle, Twitter, Ning, even FaceBook, are all publishing formats. Incorporating social networking into our definition of publishing is now important. We need to redefine our interpretation of "banned".

Web Search Strategies in Plain English | Common Craft - Explanations In Plain English

Video: Web Search Strategies in Plain English | Common Craft - Explanations In Plain English

This little video gem just appeared in my RSS feed this morning. Common Craft creates short, instructional videos in "plain English". This one takes the complicated topic of effective web search strategies, and with simple images and basic language, breaks the process down into an easily understandable process. This explanation is much better than anything I have ever been able to a present to students, that in future I will include it in all classes on web searching.

Jing Project: Visual conversation starts here.

Jing Project: Visual conversation starts here. Mac or Windows.

Jing is pretty freakin' amazing. Using this screen capture tool, we plan to create video tutorials for the library web page. Our first tutorials are already up. Dr. Nora Murphy, (CCHS Science) requested support for students doing searches for biology labs. She provided us with some labs, did some preliminary database searches herself, and passed along notes about her experience and useful keywords. This became the basis of our script for the first tutorials. Jing is easy to use, easy to embed, and will allow us to post tutorials on all sorts of library services. This means more support for students at home, when they are doing their homework and need it most.