WebJunction

Hello,

This fall I'm giving a presentation on new technologies that may change how we provide library services. The audience will probably include several small rural libraries, but also school, and academic libraries in southwest Colorado.

It's easy to loose touch with new technologies, especially when you get used to routine such as checking email everyday, using Google as your primary search engine, etc. I'm taking some time this summer to look at different technologies, so I've had a chance to familiarize myself before I talk about them in the fall.

I've just dowloaded an RSS Feeder and have been checking out some of the free podcasts on the web. This weekend, I'm going to try and download the podcasts to my RIO MP3 player. Not sure how well this will work, as my Rio as at least 2 years old already.

Does anyone have recommendations on RSS Feeders or podcasts sites that would be particularly useful to librarians? OPAL, which offers a low cost web conference solution has some podcasts on library programs. I've also done some searching on podcast.net. It seems like there is a ton of stuff out there, but a recommendation would be great!

Thanks,

Rose

I've got to mention a couple of my favorites that I consider essential reading:
Lorcan Dempsy is OCLC's VP of Research and Chief Strategist. His blog really has an eye out for web services in the library industry as well as the impact of the open web on libraries and their users. It's at http://orweblog.oclc.org/

Also keeping their eye on Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 developments are ALA Techsource at http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/

Another good one is from Jill Stover in Richmond VA that focuses on marketing but does touch on many tech issues. It's called Library Marketing - Thinking Outside the Book and is avialable here: http://librarymarketing.blogspot.com/

I also use Bloglines as my RSS aggregator because it is web based so I can get to it from any PC. You can also add your de.licio.us account as a feed so it is just a click away.

There certainly has been a lot of buzz about podcasting in the last year. There is quite an informative thread on the topic right here on All Aboard:
http://webjunction.org/forums/click.jspa?searchID=1379&messageID=18879
(I'm not sure why it got catalogued in Tech Planning).
You can pull a number of links from that conversation and add whatever you've discovered on your own.

I'm curious to know more about OPAL. Have you used it? If so, how does it compare with other software, like Live Meeting?

I really like OPAL. It feels very "clean" and manageable. I can't really be more specific without having both Netmeeting and OPAL open in front of me, but the OPAL interface is just a really neat interface. You take turns to talk. You can focus on handouts or presentation materials rather than on videoconferenced faces (often distracting because they are blurry or in 'slo mo'). I love that the OPAL programming is often open to anyone and also that it is archived, so if you miss something good, you can go in and view it later. Thumbs-up from me!

Brenda

Hey Rose and everyone else!

If you use Firefox, there are at least two different RSS readers you can use that are integrated into the browser. But, I do like Bloglines because it travels with you.

Some feeds I really like that are library related (more to acquisitions than anything)

Web Feeds for Books and Monographs: <a href="http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/B-Feeds1.htm">http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/B-Feeds1.htm</a>
Web Feeds for e-books:
<a href="http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/eFeeds.htm">http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/eFeeds.htm</a>

And there are problably gobs more out there!

Max

Some interesting stats on RSS:

Pheedo Issues Look at RSS Readership Patterns

Pheedo, an advertising network and ad-delivery platform for RSS publishers, has released the first in a series of "Pheed Read" reports providing the industry's initial look into RSS usage patterns. The "Pheed Read" report provides a preliminary overview of RSS readership patterns, detailing how individual consumers interact with RSS feeds hosted on the Pheedo network. Subsequent reports will provide additional analysis and metrics in a variety of areas. Pheedo's analysis is based on the activity on its network of advertisers and publishers. Pheedo is designed to help advertisers shape successful RSS campaigns and arm publishers with the tools and knowledge required to both understand and monetize RSS content.

The following conclusions and analysis are based on traffic during June and July of 2005. Study findings include: Tuesday is the most active day in RSS readership, with Saturday being the least active. Pheedo data points to Tuesday as being the most active day for RSS viewership, feed retrieval, and click-throughs; click-through rates (CTR) fluctuate significantly depending on day. CTR differs by more than 70% from Tuesday to Saturday. Additionally, feed retrieval has a 47% swing from the most active day (Tuesday) to the least active day (Saturday); "Morning scanners" view the most content, while late-night readers clickthrough more. CTR fluctuates from 7 to 11% depending on the hour of the day that users are consuming the content. CTR peaks in the late night hours and also in the late afternoon; led by Bloglines, 70% of Pheedo managed feeds are read by only five news aggregators. Bloglines is in the top position in Pheedo's feed reader statistics, followed by Firefox, Thunderbird, NewsGator and Sharpreader. In aggregate, these readers are used by almost 70% of people subscribing to Pheedo managed RSS content.

(www.pheedo.com)

FYI:

"Podcasts can infect your PC" By Brian Livingston, Windows Secrets Newsletter, Issue 58 — 2005.07.28

http://windowssecrets.com/comp/050728/

'My investigation this week shows a potential threat from podcasts. Fortunately, no reports of malicious podcasts that have spread viruses or spyware "in the wild" have yet been reported. It's not too late for us to ensure both safety and ease of use in this exciting technology.'

A pretty cool list of articles about blogging & RSS in the library world in one place:

http://www.blogwithoutalibrary.net/?page_id=93

I don't have an iPod but I still use iTunes for downloading and organizing podcasts. It's just more user friendly. Of course, you have to manually copy the MP3 files to your player but that's pretty simple with Windows Explorer.

Suzanne

"Library Makes Podcasting Debut", by Kristen Malinowski, February 23, 2006 -- http://www.cheshireherald.com/NC/0/293.html (<a href="http://www.cheshirelib.org/"> Cheshire Public Library</a>)

From Current Cites, May 2006 (http://lists.webjunction.org/currentcites/)

"Vogele, Colette, Mia Garlick, and The Berkman Center Clinical Program in Cyberlaw. "Podcasting Legal Guide: Rules for the Revolution" San Francisco: Creative Commons, 2006.(http://mirrors.creativecommons.org/Podcasting_Legal_Guide.pdf). - You've got all the neat gadgets you need to podcast and lined up your distribution service. Ready to rock and roll, right? Wrong. Why? Because, as Lawrence Lessig says in this work's introduction: "Federal law regulates creativity. That regulation is insanely complex. Indeed, the law is more complex today than at any point in our history. It seems the more the lawyers work on the law, the less useable the law becomes." As a podcaster, you are a multimedia publisher. This involves some legal complexities that go beyond textual blogging, which are explained in the first 27 pages of this work. The rest of it is a handy guide to podcasting itself, resources related to podcasting, and relevant legal resources. This work belongs on your virtual bookshelf with the EFF: Legal Guide for Bloggers. - CB"

hey! david! i know you! nice to see you here around these parts!!