Information Center Connections

The rise of infographics

Infographics have become ubiquitous, and with good reason.

For one, they are very often pretty to look at. I've seen all sorts of designs...flow charts, circles, rainbows, maps.  Easy on the eyes. (That's the "graphic" part.)

And the information that's presented is in bite-size portions, easy to scan and digest. Concise. A way to combine and display data to show results and/or tell a story. And, importantly, the information is cited.

Have you thought about how your information center could use infographics to present industry or research information? To market to your clients? To explain a new process or service (either for internal use or for clients/students)?

Here are a few that I found particularly striking and relevant:

+ Anatomy of a librarian

+ A librarian's worth

+ The metadata universe (zoom to view the detail)

+ Usability guide

+ The importance of online training

+ Looking forward to Thanksgiving

 

Now, how to create them? Here are a few resource lists to get you started, plus step-by-step guidance:

+ Suggestions from Problogger

+ Suggestions from Social Networking Librarian

+ Suggestions from Stephen Abram

 

If you see interesting infographics during your travels (or search for them; Visual.ly is a good creating and finding tool), file/bookmark/save them. Let them serve as inspiration for your own storytelling and information sharing.

Have you used infographics to tout your services or present information? If so, tell us the results and how you did it.

The best intranets

Don't you love "best of" lists?  Top 10/25/101 lists?  From the writer's perspective, it's a concise and eye-catching way to communicate ideas.  From the reader's point of view, it's "I-can-scan-this-easily" time.

The 4 January issue of Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox lists the top ten intranets for 2011.  After the list, trends and common themes are explored.  Some findings:

• Better tools and greater investment in intranets (even in small companies)
• More and better mobile intranets...a captive, defined audience makes it easier to create highly-functional intranets
• Better management of knowledge on intranets through targeted repositories, encouragement of innovation, easy-to-use commenting tools, user rating systems, and customized content collections
• Task-centered information architecture aids usability
• Search capabilities are of utmost importance
• Page templates and content management systems are key to information organization and consistency

Where else can these ideas be applied?  Certainly for websites more generally.  And, we could all use better tools and greater investment in many aspects of our work. 

The full report is available from the Nielsen Norman Group.

That Twitter thing

I've avoided it for long enough.  A post about Twitter.

Why have I been avoiding it? 

Well, in the beginning, it was lack of knowledge.  I had an account (@triviachick), had made a post or two, but just didn't get it.  What's retweeting, again?  How is this good for business? 

In the middle, it was realizing that, although I was tweeting (that's the verb form of Twitter), there was much more to learn.  Not only had an account been set up for the SLA 2009 conference (@sla2009, which is still active, by the way), but I created one for SLA HQ (@slahq) for more general posts.  (@sla was taken...I didn't move fast enough!)  Articles and e-mails about Twitter were everywhere (that seemed to happen overnight, and the activity only grew), but was I ready to talk intelligently about Twitter and tweeting and how to do this, that, and the other thing?  Nope...but I collected all those e-mails and articles and put them in a safe place (that is, I shoved them in an e-mail folder).

Today, 116 followers, 191 updates, one staff training, and 117 items in that e-mail folder later, I came to the conclusion that if I don't write this post NOW, it'll never get written.

So, here's the Twitter post.  Rather, *a* Twitter post, since I'll be writing about it periodically...way (way) too much information to share in one post at this point.  And, how could I not start today when I saw this stat, from Nielsen, on Mashable (@mashable):  Twitter has grown 1,928% in one year. 

Whoa.  Are you a part of that?

So, let's begin...

Question:  What is Twitter? (no sense in making assumptions and leaving people behind)

Answer:  Twitter is an easy-to-use online service through which you share short messages with those who "follow" you.  You, in turn, follow them (possibly) and others.  There is a 140-character limit on the messages...which is more than you think, but is sometimes not quite enough.

Question:  Why would I want to tweet (that is, use Twitter)?  What's in it for me, or my library, or my business?

Answer:  People use Twitter for many reasons, from personal to corporate.  You can share what you're doing in a moment, put out a call for assistance or opinions or information, promote a product or service, spread news (yours or someone else's).  It's (another) way to connect with clients/patrons/enter-audience-type-here.  From the other side, it's a way to receive information (news, questions, tips) from those you want to receive it from.

Question:  No, really, why would I use it?  How do I use it?

Answer: Take a look:

LISNews Company introduces new DVD to protect data 1,000+ yrs http://bit.ly/19c26k  [and here it is on Twitter]

resourceshelf Springer Launches Innovative Publisher-Based Image Collection http://tr.im/sGD6  [Twitter version]

SLAAcad Call for editorial board members! http://bit.ly/11nIgo  [Twitter version]

tywebb75 Adding Shirky's "Here comes everybody" to the lo-o-ng list of books I want to read. Think his ideas may backup own thoughts re ass'n future  [Twitter version]

Jill_HW Been reorganizing my RSS feeds in Bloglines. Hope this helps me archieve "reader zero" on a more regular basis.  [Twitter version]

triviachick Just got an extension for my Information Outlook column. The blog post is taking longer than I want it to...but it must be done.  [Twitter version]

What else you'll find:  job postings, links to photographs and research reports, local traffic updates, and a heck of a lot of U.S. government information.

Does it make more sense now?  Is that enough to get you started?  If so, visit Twitter to look around, sign up.  Updates are public (unless they are made private by account holders), so exploring doesn't involve setting an account up.  Not sure where to start?  Take a look at the list of tweets above, my followers and following lists (at @triviachick) and those of your tweeting colleagues.  There's also a directory of SLA Twitterers, both individuals and units, in SLA's wiki space.  Search for topics and read some posts.  Some of it is serendipity.

My next Twitter post will have some information on the mechanics of posting, including some helpful commands and other tips.  Plus, tools (including search) and even more tips.  In the meantime, a fairly comprehensive Twitter resource you may want to look at is Mashable's Twitter Guide Book...lots of answers there.

What do you know about open source?

Specifically, what do you know about open source integrated library systems?

Before I attended a D.C. Chapter event on open source integrated ILS this week, I knew very little.  But the presentation by Patrick Jones from PTFS made things a lot clearer for me!

Open source software is created not for a profit, but to use it and share it.  It follows the GNU licensing model, which means, according to Jones, that you don't charge for the software and share back with the community any improvements or further developments.  What might be best of all is that there are none of the licensing restrictions that come with commercial software.  It doesn't matter how many seats or copies or locations....

The costs for open source relate to development--improvements, customization--not the software itself (which, remember, is FREE!).  Of course, what comes with that is technical support that is provided through communities, not from the software provider...unless you work with one of the companies that provide services for open source ILS.  The main providers are PTFS, LibLime (Koha only), and Equinox (Evergreen only).

There are several open source integrated library systems, but the main two (and the two that were focused on in the presentation) are Koha, which is Web-based and offers modules for cataloging, circulation, serials, acquisitions, an OPAC, and system admin, and Evergreen.  Evergreen has some local software and some Web-based parts, and does not have acquisitions or serials modules.

If you're interested in further reading on open source ILS, take a look at this paper by Richard W. Boss, updated in December 2008, which goes into detail about the ins and outs of open source software and includes some case studies.

Opposites Attract

This recent post, Opposites Attract, by Tom Peters caught my eye. Tom explains how he sees the rapid change in information technologies has created a situation in which the opposites of librarianship are in the ascendant.  Although he considers this a dissertation topic he gives a few examples of the conflicts within the profession and how opposing forces within it, tradionalists or Huns and Visigoths, think we should cope with the future. A good read.

Survey on digital preservation

Would you be willing to contribute to this Alliance for Permanent Access/PARSE.Insight/Digital Curation Centre survey on digital preservation?

From the survey's introduction:

"Digital media have become the dominant way in which we create, shape and exchange information. Government, businesses, research organisations and memory institutions as well as individuals have become completely dependent on digital information. This dependence on digital information presents us with a number of major risks because of the many unresolved challenges in the long-term management, access and preservation of this information.

Because of the critical importance of data and information in the global scientific enterprise, the international research community must address a series of new challenges if it is to take full advantage of the data and information resources available for research today and the future.

There is a growing realisation that the answer to these challenges calls for coordinated approaches on both the national and international level. Digital preservation is too big an issue for individual institutions or even sectors to address on their own. The required effort is simply not feasible and international exchange and collaboration are therefore essential.

In order for us to better understand the needs of the research community, we kindly request that you fill out this questionnaire, which may reach you via other members of the Alliance. It will take you about 20 minutes. The research community as a whole will benefit from your cooperation!"

Worth a click

The Annoyed Librarian, now at Library Journal's Web site:
http://www.libraryjournal.com/blog/580000658.html

Open source CMS comparison, from InfoWorld:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/10/08/41TC-open-source-cms_1.html

Website Grader (thanks mamamusings):
http://www.websitegrader.com/

SLA in Second Life:
http://sla-divisions.typepad.com/sla_in_second_life/

Work In Progress, a "daily look at life on the job":
http://workinprogress.blogs.time.com/

Say what you mean

We all get caught up in "terminology," be it techie- or library-related.  I had to share this Circuits column from the New York Times I found through Librarian of Fortune.  David Pogue, who writes the column, talks about his broad audience, language considerations for that audience, and the tech words he has come to despise.

I agree with some, but not all, of his no-no words.  Many are so common we have begun using them as *the* words.  We expect them and know what they mean.  (But does that make it right?)  What do you think of these two? 

Content:  We use this one quite a lot, don't we?  Pogue says we should just use the word(s) for the things we are referring to, not the general term.  Instead of content, use:  web page, text, music, etc., etc.  But one word, "content," sums it up quite well...better than saying "what's on our site."  It's not always just a "page" or the "text" we are talking about.  It's the, well, content.  The meat of it.  The content.

User:  Pogue prefers "you," as in "the user (you) should read the license agreement."   I think "user" makes it more general, more passive, which is sometimes the best tone depending on the purpose of the instruction/brochure/whatever.  As my husband would say, a user is "one who uses."

This column also makes me think of an office bingo game that was popular a few years ago, right around the time the word "proactive" became popular.  The polite name of this game is Buzzword Bingo, although I had to look that up since I've only heard the less delicate word used.

Worth a click

SLA 2009 conference wiki
http://wiki.sla.org/display/SLA2009/Welcome+to+Washington%2C+DC!

Google's Things to Do (thanks Phil Bradley)
http://www.google.co.uk/landing/thingstodo/

Networked Workers report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/264/report_display.asp

Law libraries survey from Law.com
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202423517443

From Information to Knowledge to Social Networking

As part of its 40th anniversary celebration, the Smithsonian Institution Libraries are putting on a series of interesting and provocative lectures through the autumn.  In addition to being face-to-face events, the lectures are available as live and archived webinars (links to the videos are through their blog).

In the most recent webinar, David Weinberger, author of The Cluetrain Manifesto and Everything Is Miscellaneous, spoke about "Knowledge, Noise, and the End of Information." 

Some of the ideas he shared with the audience:

• Knowledge is rare, and orderly.  We attempt to control, classify and organize it.  It's scarce because it has been managed into books, libraries, systems to organize it.

• When you remove restrictions on management of information and knowledge, you have the success of the Internet, which is "non-conforming" and "non-systematic" and expanding in all directions.  It's messy.  It's different for everyone.  It's not uniform.  Everything is not saying the same thing and it's very noisy.  The noise and breadth are what make it useful.

• The interactivity of the Internet reveals culture.  The discussions we have and the comments we make (on sites such as Flickr and on blogs) add depth to information, news, etc.  These conversations have value themselves.

• We cannot anticipate what people will be interested in because perception of value varies with use and audience.  Digitization and the Internet have allowed us to save/"collect" more without physical restriction.  The audience is now the world.  Collective knowledge adds insight to the conversation.  (Weinberger used the example of the Library of Congress using Flickr to post photos from WWII, and the letting the public tag and comment on photos.)

If you have the opportunity, have a listen to one or more of these lectures.  Ideas like these can influence the way we develop services and deliver content.  Upcoming speakers include Roy Tennant on "Libraries in a Networked World" and Clay Shirky on "Finding Content as a Social Problem."