wondering what's happening with NLS6?

misc No Responses »
Mar 022012

An announcement went out this morning on the ALIA elists about NLS6. As we don’t have a website just yet (it’s on the way!), I’m reposting the full announcement here.

* * * * *

In 2013, ALIA’s New Librarians’ Symposium is heading back to where it all began!

NLS6
Brisbane
Sunday 10 & Monday 11 February 2013

Information Online 2013
Brisbane
Tuesday 12, Wednesday 13 and Thursday 14 February 2013

Be different. Do different.

A different partnership

In 2012, NLS6 will be aligned with ALIA’s Information Online conference to bring you an action-packed week of professional development in Brisbane.

A different approach

We know NLS is an important event on the new graduate professional development calendar. Over the past few months, ALIA has undertaken extensive consultation with ALIA members, groups, the ALIA New Generation Advisory Committee and the Information Online Program Committee. ALIA and the Board of Directors understand the needs of NLS delegates: NLS6 needs to be an affordable event with a strong focus on a high quality program.

A different model

With this in mind, the Board have endorsed a new model for NLS6. The 2013 Symposium will be organised by a committee of volunteers with support from ALIA National Office staff. Kate Davis of Queensland University of Technology has been appointed co-chair of the Organising Committee and she will be joined in the chairing role by Vanessa Warren of Macquarie University and current Chair of the New Generation Advisory Committee.

NLS6 will be an event in its own right – not a satellite of Information Online 2013 – but aligning the two events will allow them to complement each other in many ways. NLS6 delegates will be provided with free admission to the trade and exhibitions space at Online on Tuesday 12 February and have a unique opportunity to capitalise on the proximity of the two events to attend both with reduced travel costs.

Help us ‘do different’!

If you’re interested in finding out how you can help with organising NLS6, Vanessa and Kate invite you to attend an online information session next Thursday 8 March at 6pm AEST (Brisbane – please convert for other regions). This session will be recorded for those who are interested in getting involved but unable to attend at this time. A call for expressions of interest in joining the Organising Committee will be announced at this online session. Please RSVP to k3.davis@qut.edu.au.

If you have any questions regarding NLS6 or Information Online 2013, please contact Christina Granata, ALIA’s Events Manager at events@alia.org.au. Watch out for updates on

Kate Davis and Vanessa Warren
NLS6 Co-chairs

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first planning meetups for online journal club

ebl, professional stuff 1 Response »
Feb 242012

Thanks to everyone who responded to the survey and expressed interest in attending a meetup to chat about an online journal club.

To accommodate as many people as possible, there will be two meetups:

  • Tuesday 6 March at 6pm AEST (Brisbane)
  • Wednesday 7 March at 7pm AEST (Brisbane)

Because I’m more than a little ditsy, I managed to get on of the dates wrong on the survey. A number of you indicated you could make Tuesday 7 March at 7pm, but of course, 7 March is a Wednesday. So hopefully this will work out for some people.

If you can’t make these dates and times, never fear! We’ll take lots of notes and there’ll be opportunities to volunteer to help out down the track, as well as opportunities to participate in the journal club itself.

I’ll post a short agenda closer to the meeting.

We’ll use Skype for this first call, as that was by far the most popular option.

If you’re planning on coming along to one of the meetups, please indicate which one by choosing an option on the form below, and also enter your Skype username so I can be sure to add you to the correct call.

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towards a research-led profession (or, how to become a practitioner-researcher)

ebl, evaluation, evidence, research No Responses »
Feb 212012

At LibraryCamp Australia 2012, there was a discussion about building a culture of research in library and information practice. Lots of really practical ideas were shared during the session, and I wanted to follow up here with a few of my ideas on how professionals can get involved in doing research. So here goes!

Every project is an opportunity for research

Starting out a new project with clear, measurable objectives is not only good project management, but it also provides you with an opportunity to publish. Setting objectives and putting strategies in place to collect the data you need to measure achievement of those objectives sets you up to evaluate the success of your project once you hit the finish line. Publishing on the results of your project and your evaluation of its success is a great way to help build the evidence base.

Collaborate

If you’re new to research (or even if you’re not!), collaborating with your colleagues can be a great way to break down some of the fear you might have about doing research and getting published. Collaborate within your institution and beyond it. Connect with people that have similar professional interests and just start talking about what interests you. You’ll be surprised by how many ideas you come up with. Also consider collaborating with academics – we’re always looking for opportunities to work with practitioners on real world projects. Your professional expertise and their methodological expertise will complement each other.

Get a mentor

There are many, many active practitioner-researchers in the library and information professions. Find someone whose work you admire and ask them if they’ll mentor you through the process of undertaking your first research project and looking for publication opportunities. You might already have a professional mentor, but your research mentor is probably a different person: someone who has experience in designing and seeing through research projects and getting published.

Can’t find a research mentor? Drop a comment here and I’ll see if I can help you.

Look at alternative channels

Journals and conferences are probably the two most obvious places to publish the results of your research, but have you thought beyond that? Blogging is a great way to document your research journey and a really valuable way to disseminate your research. Academic publishing timelines are laggy and can mean that your cutting edge project isn’t so cutting edge any more by the time your journal article gets published. A series of blog posts on your findings can help you disseminate any time-critical aspects of your research as you progress.

Get lots of traction out of a single project

Remember, one project does not necessarily equal one publication. You can get much more traction than that out of your research! By publishing some of your findings on a blog, for example, you don’t preclude yourself from publishing about that research in a journal or presenting at a conference. There are always a variety of angles you can use for publications about a single research project. A project I led last year has so far resulted in three publications, and I’ll be publishing again out of this project this year (more than once). Each of these publications focuses on a different aspect of the research and was designed for a different audience. Even after five or so publications, there will still be data (and different views of the data) that I haven’t published on.

But that’s okay, because the other thing you need to remember about research is your data has a longer shelf life than you might imagine. When I first made the switch to academia, I was always in a rush to publish while my data was fresh, but I learned very quickly that I actually have quite a big window of time to disseminate the results of my research. Don’t publish one surface-level view of your research in your haste to get your findings out there. Instead, take a narrower but deeper view of your research in a series of publications over a longer period of time. You’ll do your research more justice this way and your publications will be more useful to others.

Start with a literature review

We’re librarians. We know how important it is to review the literature before we start a project. But instead of just writing up a short literature review in a publication on your findings, consider writing a more holistic literature review before you get started on your research, and publish it independently. Our professional literature could definitely use more of this type of publication. The process will help you focus your research on the gaps in the literature and your review will benefit other researchers. You might consider, for example, publishing a literature review in the new review section of the EBLIP journal.

Do a research degree

If you’re keen to get involved in research, you might like to consider getting a research degree. As librarians and information professionals move into research support, research training is going to be increasingly relevant for practitioners. At VALA a couple of weeks back, research support was probably the hottest topic on the program. Increasingly, information professionals are taking a really practical approach to research support and contributing to research in really tangible ways, through activities like literature searching, grant writing, and advising on publication opportunities.

If your professional qualification is a Graduate Diploma, you might be thinking about upgrading to a Masters. Instead of upgrading by completing more coursework, consider a research degree. The benefits of this in terms of your skills and knowledge are obvious, but the benefits for your wallet shouldn’t be discounted. Masters by research programs are fee-free.

We have an awesome research community at QUT… Come and play with us!

Just do it!

Stop thinking about it, and just do it! You’ve probably got at least one project on the go right now that you could be publishing about. So do it! The Research Applications in Information and Library Studies seminar is a perfect venue to publish research in practice, because the focus of this event is on connecting researchers and practitioners and fostering a culture of research in the profession.

Abstract submission for RAILS8 closes this Thursday, 23 February. You’ve got plenty of time between now and then to prepare and submit a 300 word abstract! The Organising Committee eagerly await your contribution!

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let's get this professional reading group off the ground!

ebl, professional stuff No Responses »
Feb 182012

If you’re interested in participating in an online professional reading group, please fill out this questionnaire about your availability for a bit of a planning meeting, and we’ll see where we end up!

Please respond by 5pm AEST (Brisbane) on Thursday 23 February, so I can confirm a time the following day.

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interested in participating in an online professional reading group?

ebl, professional stuff 22 Responses »
Feb 142012

Last Friday, one of the breakout sessions at LibraryCamp Australia focused on professional reading and we chatted about the possibility of setting up an online ‘journal club’. This is something I’d love to participate in and I’m definitely keen to help out with some of the mechanics of getting something off the ground, but I don’t really have the capacity to take on a huge amount of work. So it would really be a case of a few of us getting together and seeing what we could come up with. I thought I’d blog about this and see if we can generate some interest, and then we can go from there.

What I had in mind was something like this…

  • We establish some shared topics of interest in the literature – some topics that a whole bunch of us across the sectors are interested in – and work with these as reading topics. Alternatively, we could have sector-based groups, but I do see a lot of value in cross-pollinating and reading literatures related to other sectors, as well as our own.
  • Each month, we choose one academic reading (or one academic reading per topic, if we want to break into groups).
  • Once a month, we get together in an online space like a Google+ Hangout and discuss that reading. As journal club discussions work best with medium sized groups, I would suggest this happens more than once a month, at various times. Individuals can nominate to lead the discussion, say once a year each.
  • On an ongoing basis, we could all share information about other professional reading we’re doing – including ‘non-academic’ literature, like blog posts or news articles. This could be done via Twitter with a hash tag, or we could consider setting up a WordPress site and use BuddyPress to turn it into a social network where we can share our reading.

This might be something we do just for this year, the National Year of Reading, to profile professional reading, or it could be something that continues into the future.

Ultimately, this should be a lightweight initiative. I’m sure none of us want to get bogged down in administrivia and extra work.

Is anyone interested in joining me in a Google+ Hangout in the next two weeks or so to talk this through further?

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on 2011

about me, reflection 2 Responses »
Jan 052012

There are lots of reflective bloggers around the place at the moment. After reading others’ reflections on 2011, I was inspired to stop, take stock, and do a bit of serious reflecting myself.

Recently, I was at a friend’s house with a number of other library-types for what is becoming an annual craft and catching up day. Someone asked about what had happened since we all met up the year before. My response was unequivocally negative: 2011 was a year I will be glad to put behind me. When I read a blog post by one of my fellow crafters in the days after our catch up, I was challenged by her philosophy that how we feel about things depends significantly on how we choose to handle them. I was instantly defensive. I *did* have a terrible 2011; it ‘happened to me’ and was not of my making!

But on further reflection, I can see that’s not entirely true. 2011 was a tough year for me personally, but professionally, it was an incredibly successful year. Some of that was down to chance and some of it was about hard work and making things happen. It was a challenging year professionally – and not always in a good way – but on the whole, a very positive year.

So why was my reaction to the question about what had happened in the last 12 months so negative? I guess my overall perception of 2011 is clouded by many things, not the least of which is the fact that I got sick again and again. And again. To the point where I’m sure my Twitter buddies and colleagues think I’m a hypochondriac! It started in January when I was in Sydney for Information Online and it just kept going through the year. A few colds later, I got quite sick again in June and lost my voice for a week; I left to go to the UK before I was completely better and got worse on the way up there; I got sick in Perth in September and took half the attendees of the 5th New Librarians’ Symposium out with me… Basically, I just got sick over and over and over, with some bouts worse than others. I estimate I had about 15 cold/flu things in 2011. And the year’s parting gift was a bout of sinusitis and tonsillitis that started on New Year’s Eve. I am most cranky about starting the new year sick, because 2012 is a year in which I plan to be well.

On a personal level, 2011 saw me adjusting to lots of change and more responsibility. I’m not going to go into all the details, but you can trust me when I say that there is just no positive way to approach some things! I’m not really a negative person. Though I do love a good whinge, when it comes to the crunch, I tend to just make stuff work. But making the best of a bad situation does not always mean you can turn it into a positive – and doing too much ‘making the best’ is really exhausting. Regardless of how I approached what the year threw at me, there was a lot of not-fun stuff to deal with, and much of it was completely outside my control. (And much of it was dealt with while I was sick. Doubly not fun.) Those things sucked. I tried to make them into positives where possible and dealt with the things that couldn’t be turned around.

And it’s those things I was reacting to when I said 2011 had been a crappy year for me.

But amongst all of that, there were many great things about 2011 that I’d essentially written off in my mind – or that I’d forgotten about amongst the not-fun stuff.

So what were those good things? I thought I’d blog about a few of the highlights, to keep myself honest and to document them for myself. Here are a few of the the brightest happenings of 2011:

  • In January I watched the social media storm following the Brisbane floods and generated a whole lot of nervous energy doing so, which I put to use by helping a public library in the Lockyer Valley clean up after flooding. My friend Gluten Free Lissy, her husband and sister and I headed out to a friend’s place near Laidley (she had flooded) and from there we went on to the library, spending a day crawling around, cleaning up gross mud, pulling up the carpet, and knocking nails into floorboards. I also baked a few hundred cakes and muffins to take to the SES at Laidley. This was a highlight of the year for me because it allowed me to see people at their most generous: while we were cleaning up the library, people stopped by with food for us – platters of fruit and things, a brick of water bottles – and other people, who had lost everything, pulled together and turned up at the library to help us clean up. It was also a devastating experience. Throughout the region, people had their whole lives packed up and put out on the curb for rubbish collection. And when I hopped in my car to head home, I heard a breaking news story about the death of a family in Grantham. What a crazy time we had at the start of this year. I hope to never witness anything like it again.
  • My divine niece and nephew grew from babies to amazing little people… My favourite milestone in the last year was their learning to sing. I love that they love to sing!
  • I worked on the Information Online conference committee, which was a fantastic opportunity to see how a big conference runs.
  • You know the saying ‘publish or perish’? Well, it definitely wasn’t lack of publishing that threatened my health in 2011 (more the bazillion colds I had!). I spoke around the place, personally presenting at five conferences and a couple of professional events (and co authored papers that others presented elsewhere); wrote a few conference papers; had a couple of articles published in inCite; gave my first keynote at the fifth New Librarians’ Symposium; and co-authored a conceptual article for the Evidence Based Library and Information Practice (EBLIP) journal. If you’re interested, you can see a list of my publications and most of my presentations on my other site, katedavis.info.
  • I went to the UK for a couple of weeks. While I’m not the world’s best traveler (I like my creature comforts and I’m a bit of a homebody! – and I was, of course, sick while I was away), I had a great time and appreciate the experiences I had while I was away.
  • I presented on behalf of Zaana Howard and myself at the Sixth International Evidence Based Library and Information Practice Conference in Manchester, and we won both the Delegates’ Choice and International Program Committee Choice awards for best presentation.
  • While I was in the UK, I had an awesome few days catching up with old friends who would probably now be considered London-locals, so I got to have some insider exclusive experiences!
  • Shopping the Harrods sales in June would have to be a highlight of the year too. I bought my favourite pair of shoes ever (Jimmy Choo sandals that I live in – I should have bought more!) and stacks and stacks of kids’ clothes for my niece and nephew… Juicy Couture dresses, insanely cheap Polos, Dolce and Gabbana jeans, Armani tshirts… And most importantly, Fireman Sam paraphernalia that has given my nephew hours of firefighting pleasure… I had to buy a suitcase early in my trip to accommodate my shopping (which I’ve already blogged about here)!
  • I collaborated with the aforementioned Zaana Howard on a couple of projects, and working with Zaana was definitely a highlight for me. As was working collaboratively with my fabulous colleagues, including Helen Partridge, Katherine Howard and Christine Yates on various different things.
  • In addition to London, Aberdeen and Manchester, I also traveled locally, to Sydney, Canberra and Perth. In Canberra, I saw one of my lovely friends get married in the rose gardens at Old Parliament House in autumn, which is my absolute favourite time of year in Canberra… When I returned later in the year, I got to catch up with my lovely friend and her new husband.
  • In April I submitted my Stage 2 research proposal for my PhD and had it approved. First milestone done and dusted!
  • I collected data for my PhD pilot project and was reminded of why this topic is right for me.
  • By the time I went on my Christmas holidays, I had a solid first draft of my methods chapter for my PhD Confirmation of Candidature. We won’t talk about the literature review I’m yet to write a single word of…
  • I worked with amazing students on projects and course work. I had numerous goosebump moments when I saw my students realise their potential. And I got to cheer a number of them on as they crossed the stage at graduation.
  • I got to give several of my awesome students references for jobs. This is one of my very favourite parts of teaching.
  • I co-chaired the very successful RAILS7 conference in May.
  • I worked with a project student to produce a series of YouTube clips to support National and State Libraries Australasia’s LibraryHack initiative, which involved speaking to a bunch of awesome people.
  • I wrapped up a collaborative faculty funded teaching and learning project that was designed to develop a framework for blended learning across a whole of course environment. Well, that’s kind of true. I wrapped up the work we were funded to do (and then some) but the research and its application is ongoing – I’m currently working with a project student to survey our students about how our breed of blended experiences works for them.
  • I got back to reading fiction! I started the year with an aim of reading the equivalent of a fiction book a week. In the end, I made it to 35, which – considering the year I had! – was no mean feat. I read some fantastic books, particularly young adult novels.
  • I did some fun stuff with my teaching, like gamify my unit site for our gamification week and present on my use of social media in teaching and learning at a QUT innovation event.
  • I worked with Dr Gill Hallam who delivered one of the units I teach to a cohort of German students studying in Stuttgart. My students were finishing the unit as Gill’s started and they mentored their German peers as they undertook the unit. Half a dozen students, Gill and I coauthored a conference paper on our collaborations, and we’re currently preparing the presentation which will be delivered in Amsterdam at the BOBCATSSS 2012 conference at the end of January.
  • I won the Faculty of Science and Technology Teaching Excellence Award (individual). Working on the application for this award was a highlight in itself because I got to revisit all the lovely emails students have sent me and student feedback on the teaching and learning experience survey. Winning the award was an added perk – and not one I expected!
  • I also received a Vice Chancellor’s Award for Performance – another lovely surprise!
  • I had a fantastic Christmas with my family. It was a casual, lovely day. We opened presents, played with new toys, ate a lunch that should of been lovely (except I was too busy supervising present opening and burned it to cinders!), jumped on the trampoline that Santa brought… It was a great day and a perfect end to the year.

So that’s a big long list of highlights, and there were quite a few more lovely little things that happened, too. And I’m grateful for every one.

A friend of mine posted on Facebook about one thing she was grateful for every day in 2011. It was refreshing and inspiring to read these reflections during the year. Those statements of gratitude and my own reflections on the last year were what made me want to write this post.

Despite still being glad to see the back of 2011, I am grateful for all the challenges and the triumphs. No, I’m not grateful for all the sickness – but I am grateful for the renewed, proactive focus on my health that this has prompted. Am I grateful for some of the challenges in my personal life? No, not really, but I am grateful for being stretched and for having opportunities to grow. I’m grateful to be part of a quirky but amazing little family and willing to work with whatever that brings. And I am decidedly grateful for all the wonderful things that happened in 2011.

Most of all I’m grateful for my amazing supportive friends, fantastic colleagues, and my beautiful family. Both new friends and old, those who are far away and those who are around the corner, have been so important in the last year – more so than ever before. Some have saved my sanity by talking me off the PhD ledge (that’s the ledge of panic and doom where you think you just can’t do it); some have looked after me like surrogate mothers; and others have put up with me being a distant, always preoccupied and constantly unavailable friend with no complaint, amazing patience and an understanding of where I’m at. You all know who you are, and I am grateful for you.

I’m grateful for 2011, but yes, I’m still grateful that it came to an end.

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my #nls5 and #libcampoz take away messages

misc 6 Responses »
Sep 222011

I’ve just gotten back into the swing of things after the Fifth New Librarians’ Symposium and Library Camp Australia in Perth this past weekend. I’ve come away with a few key messages in my mind, and wanted to share some of these. I should warn you, this post was written on the train yesterday morning at 6am after catching the red eye out of Perth the night before, so expect a degree of incoherency!

Authenticity is key

The most important thing any presenter takes onto the stage with them is their very own style. Tips about how fast to talk, how you should move, and how you shouldn’t say ummmm are all well and good, but the people you’re presenting to are there to see you, not some formulaic presentation. It’s about being yourself and being authentic. It’s okay that I don’t have the energy of Kathryn Greenhill or the quick wit and unconventional style of Mal Booth. It’s okay if I say umm a bit and, if I want to swear for emphasis and I think my audience can handle it, that’s okay too. NLS5 marked my first ever keynote and boy was I packing it heading up onto that stage following in Mal Booth’s wake. But the inimitable Ms Greenhill told me good presenting is about being authentically ‘you’. I didn’t believe her. Until I watched others enact their authentic selves on the stage. That was a big learning for me.

It’s time to step up

At both NLS5 and Library Camp Australia I heard too many people say that depite encouragement and offers of financial support for attendance, they could not inspire their new graduates to get to these events. Some just weren’t interested; others didn’t want to sacrifice their weekend (even if offered time off in lieu). This makes me want to tear my hair out. And it makes me want to shout out two words: Step. Up. New grads, step up and get engaged. Take charge of your careers and make the most of opportunities that are being handed to you on a plate while many of your peers are fighting for those same opportunities (or making those opportunities for themselves by self funding conference registration and a none-too-cheap trip to Perth, taking annual leave, and stepping off a long flight from Perth after an exhausting weekend to get straight back into the work the very next day. To library educators (and I’m talking to myself here, too): step up and inspire your students. Send them out into the profession so supercharged and energetic and hungry for more learning that they’ll do whatever it takes to look after their PD, and they’d never dream of turning down an opportunity to go to something like the New Librarians’ Symposium.

Balance is on everyone’s minds

Kids or no kids; casual job or mega management role; librarian or not… Many of us are struggling to find balance in our lives. For some of us, that’s because we put too much pressure on ourselves to achieve – and to achieve perfection. For others, it’s simply a matter of the sheer volume of ‘stuff’ in our lives. I am a firm believer that we can have it all, but not all at the same time. For many of us, this weekend made us stop and think about the pace at which we’re living our lives, and in many cases, we discovered it was passing us by in a blur. There are two simple things we can do to make our lives a little less frantic.

Firstly, we can stop measuring our own worth against the successes of others. This is sheer craziness on so many levels. You’re not that other person! You have different skills and knowledge and aspirations and contexts. You are also not privy to the inner workings of these other people’s lives. You may just find you’re aspiring to be like someone whose personal life is a shambles or who hates the fact they have to work a million hours a day or who has made sacrifices you aren’t willing to make. You’re you. Find your own dream, your own picture of balance, and live it.

Secondly, you can make small changes to begin to redress the balance. In October, you’ll find a bunch of librarians doing #lunchtober, where we will take a lunch break every day. If you’re like me and fortunate enough to work from home, some days you might even do #naptober, where instead of taking a break to eat, you take a break to have a nap. It’s about being mindful – remembering to stop and chill a bit during our busy days.

I’m not Wonder Woman

I realised I have limits and I need to be mindful of them. Traveling is tiring and when you’re sick to boot, tweetups and post dinner drinks aren’t the best ways to spend your time. This conference, I learned it’s okay to admit defeat and head home early, even when the cool kids are carrying on. I also learned it’s okay to skip a session, sit in a corner, and catch up with friends old and new.

Research rocks

I may be a geek for loving research and data and evaluation, but I am by no means alone, even amongst the crowd of newly minted librarians.

Our students are full of win

All three QUT students at Library Camp Australia put themselves out there by proposing topics for discussion; two of them facilitated sessions; and one of them championed a relational view of information literacy, encouraging participants to step back from breaking literacies down into categories, and to consider literacy from an experiential view point. Boy was I proud. At NLS5, Alisa Howlett did a fantastic job of her paper on developing personal learning networks and I was proud as punch. Way to represent, guys!

Sometimes the people you connect with online are even more awesome IRL

I learned that a PLN is even better after you get to connect the Twitter handles and avatars with a real person.

Moving forward

I’ve also come away with a few challenges:

  • to get the #ccvid4lib project off the ground with the help of the awesome people I met at Library Camp Oz (a post on this is coming soon)
  • to help the local New Grads Group get an NLS reprise event off the ground to catch up all the local new graduates and students who didn’t make it to Perth
  • to help get a Library Camp Brisbane off the ground, now we’ve seen how the pros do it

Not so new anymore…

I’ve been to three NLS’s now and this will probably be my last. This one had a different vibe than the others. It was upbeat. People were positive about the future of our profession, and willing to get involved in shaping it. It was a pleasure to be there and a privilege to give a keynote. Thanks to the committee for putting on a fab NLS, and for asking me along to speak, and thanks also to the Library Camp unorganisers for a fabulous day of informal learning.

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presentation from the fifth new librarians' symposium

conference presentations 1 Response »
Sep 212011

This past weekend, I gave a keynote at the New Librarians’ Symposium in Perth. My presentation was on practitioner research, evidence based practice, and the importance of theory for information professionals.

I took my Wizard of Oz themed title (Research and evidence and theory – oh my! Paving your own yellow brick road) a little too far, and the result is a rather cryptic set of slides. I believe the presentation was audio recorded, though, so I’ll post when it becomes available. Slides are below, and you can see all the images I used (and then some) by visiting my favourites on Flickr.

View more presentations from katiedavis
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interested in helping to compile creative commons licensed videos on technologies and tools for libraries?

misc 8 Responses »
Sep 052011

In recent weeks, I’ve been lamenting the fact I can no longer link to CommonCraft videos on YouTube. The CommonCraft videos have been a great resource for both educators and librarians. The fact I can’t link out to these videos anymore means I have to create even more content myself (and I already create stacks of content!).

So I was thinking, what if we got a bunch of people who are interested in emerging technologies together and started creating our own videos, with a particular emphasis on the application of the technologies for library and information services? Rather than covering concepts in a generalised way like CommonCraft videos do, I’d like to see these videos take a quick look at how a specific tool or technology can be deployed by libraries or librarians.

I’m envisioning videos that are three to five minutes in length and which are essentially “quick and dirty”. Technology changes so fast it is simply not worth investing a great deal of time in creating them. The videos would be Creative Commons licensed (I’m thinking Attribution only) and loaded somewhere like YouTube for anyone to view or redeploy in any way they choose. We could do an initial push to create a first set of five to ten videos, and then aim to release one a month, or perhaps just as the arrival of something new demands it.

The videos could be used by librarians and library technologists to explain concepts to management; in technology training programs; in “23 things” style learning programs; by educators… The possibilities are endless.

If you’d be interested in participating by creating a video, drop a comment here to say what you’d like to do and we’ll go from there. If you’d like to be part of an admin team to get this thing off the ground, likewise leave a comment here and we can set up a time to Skype and talk through the logisitics. I’d like this to be a lightweight project that, with minimal effort from all of us, could benefit many people. I know many of us are already developing content about technology topics, so why not pool our resources and create something we can all draw from?

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information literacy and transliteracy... how do they relate?

information literacy No Responses »
Aug 082011

*Half-baked stream-of-consciousness alert!*

I just had a quick read of a blog post over at the Libraries and Transliteracy blog, which looked at how information literacy (IL) and transliteracy might relate to each other.

This is a “think as I write post” – I’m really writing this to think through my thoughts on this topic. So be gentle with me! Here goes.

I’m not sure why this connection hasn’t happened in my brain before, but it struck me that the view of IL in the post mentioned above is very much a skills based view, rather than a relational view, where we look at how people use information to learn. And it made me think, from a relational, experiential viewpoint, I can indeed see how transliteracy would be subsumed by IL. Through a relational lens, we consider information to be much more than textual content and we consider it to be experienced via multiple channels (including technological channels like social media).

Because I subscribe to an experiential view of IL, for me, transliteracy borders on being a redundant concept. Or perhaps more to the point, I wonder why practitioners in library and information science have looked outside our discipline for an explanation of this phenomenon (what others call transliteracy, but whatever you want to call it) when one already exists in our own literature. This phenomenon that some call transliteracy is (for me at least) encompassed by IL – maybe not as IL is discussed in practitioner discourse, where the focus is on skills for seeking and using information, but most certainly in the IL discourse that I position myself within, where we look at how people use information to learn, how people experience information.

There is an increasing interest in information studies research in how people experience information in social media. My PhD is just one example of a study concerned with this phenomenon. I’m excited about the research my colleagues have underway, looking at, for example, information experience in Twitter, and information experience in social media in a time of natural disaster. As publications begin to appear in this area, the discussion about how IL and transliteracy relate is bound to get a whole lot more interesting.

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