Some Things to Think About…02.22.10

Mobile App or Mobile Web for Libraries?…02.21.10

Here is an excerpt from an interesting and relevant post for libraries titled “Mobile App or Mobile Web?“:

“Mobile access to information on the internet is the latest step in the development of information systems technology, as described in the previous post in this series. The two main features that distinguish mobile devices from other devices are:

• Access to the web literally any time, anywhere
• Location awareness using GPS or the mobile network

Let’s focus on web access first. There are two main ways in which information providers can provide access to their data: by a mobile web browser or by apps.

The easiest way to provide mobile access is: do nothing. Users of mobile internet devices can simply visit all existing websites with their mobile browser. However, in doing so they will experience a number of problems: performance is slow, pages are too large, navigation is difficult, certain parts of websites don’t work. These problems are caused by the very physical characteristics of mobile technology that make mobile internet access possible: the small size of devices and displays, the wireless network, the limited features of dedicated mobile operating systems and browsers.

Fortunately, technological development is an interactive, reciprocal, cyclic process. Technology continuously needs to find solutions to problems that were caused by new uses of existing technology.

Many organisations have solved this problem by creating separate ‘dumbed down’ mobile versions of their websites, containing mainly text only pages and textual links to their most important services and information. In the case of libraries for instance ‘locations and addresses’,  ’opening hours’, etc. See this list of examples (with thanks to Aaron Tay). Another example is LibraryThing Mobile, which also has a catalog search option. In these cases you have to manually point your browser to the dedicated mobile URL, unless the webserver is configured to automatically recognise mobile browsers and redirect them to the mobile site.

Of course this not the optimal solution for two reasons:

• On the front end: as an information provider you are complete ignoring all graphical, dynamic, interactive and web 2.0 functionality on the end user side. This means actually going back to the early days of the world wide web of static text pages.
• On the back end: duplicating system and content administration. In most cases it will come down to manually creating and editing HTML pages, because most website content management systems may not offer manual or automatic editing of pages for mobile access. Some systems offer automatic recognition of mobile browsers and display content in the appropriate format, like the WordPress plugin “WordPress Mobile Edition” that automatically shows a list of posts if mobile browsers are detected. This is what happens on this blog.

Because of this situation we are witnessing a re-enactment of the client-server alternative to static HTML that I described previously: mobile apps! ‘Apps’ is short for ‘applications’, apparently everything needs to be short in the mobile online web 2.0 age. Apps are installed on mobile devices, they run locally making use of the hardware, operating system and user friendly interface of the device, and they only connect to the internet for retrieving data from a database system in the cloud (on a remote server).

A disadvantage of this solution obviously is that you have to multiply development and maintenance in order to support all mobile platforms that your customers are using, or just support the most used platform (iPhone) and ignore the rest of your end users. Alternatively you can support one mobile platform with an app, and the rest with a mobile web site. Organisations have the choice of developing apps themselves from scratch, or using one of the commercial parties that offer library apps, such as Boopsie, Blackboard or the recently announced LibraryThing Anywhere, that is meant to offer both mobile web and apps for iPhone, Blackberry and Android.

Some examples:

• TU Delft mobile app for iPhone (powered by Blackboard). University wide, including library. Haven’t been able to test this because I have an Android phone. An Android version will be developed. For other devices they offer a mobile website.
• Duke University mobile app for iPhone. University wide, including library. For other devices they offer a mobile website.
• Santa Clara County Library mobile apps for iPhone and Android (powered by Boopsie).
• WorldCat Mobile (powered by Boopsie).

An alternative solution to the client-server and ‘dumbed down’ models would be to use the new HTML5 and CSS3 options to create websites that can easily be handled by all PC and mobile webbrowsers alike. HTML 5 has geolocation options, and browsers are made location aware this way too. The iWebKit Framework is a free and easy package to create web apps compatible for all mobile platforms. See this demo on PC, iPhone, Android, etc.

Some say that HTML5/CSS3 will make apps disappear, but I suspect performance may still be a problem, due to slow connections. But it’s not only a technology issue. It’s also a matter of business models, as Owen Stephens and Till Kinstler pointed out…”

Library Website User Experience Evaluation…02.21.10

Metadata Encoding & Transmission Standard for Digital Repository…02.21.10

Library Duality…02.21.10

The Social Media Edge…02.20.10

New Pew Report Released- “The Future Internet IV”…02.19.10

The Future of the Internet IV

“A survey of nearly 900 Internet stakeholders reveals fascinating new perspectives on the way the Internet is affecting human intelligence and the ways that information is being shared and rendered…”

Top Public Libraries on Twitter…02.19.10

From NFI Research:

Google Launches Mobile Shopper…02.19.10

Mobile Trends and Social Reference in Libraries…02.19.10

Click on image above to begin PowerPoint presentation – useful information.

How to Keep Up With Almost Everything…02.18.10

Library Mashups…02.18.10

The Emergent Library…02.18.10

E-Readers and Academic Libraries…02.18.10

TEDx Librarians, Eh? – Summer 2010…02.17.10

Theme

The theme for the first TEDx Librarians will be Librarians as Thought Leaders.

Date, Venue and Location

TEDx Librarians is coming to Southern Ontario, Summer 2010! More details soon.

Schedule and Speakers

TEDx Librarians will be a one day event that will feature live speakers, selected TED Talks, and plenty of opportunities for discussion. Details on sessions and speakers will be posted closer to the event date. Stay tuned!

Attending TEDx Librarians

At TEDx Librarians we aim to inspire productive discussion among a small group of passionate and creative individuals in our profession. The registration process will begin soon, so make sure to keep in touch.

Speaking at TEDx Librarians

We are seeking out engaging speakers from across Ontario and beyond. If you know someone who you believe can inspire us, please let us know.

Volunteering at TEDx Librarians

Want to help us create an exciting and memorable event? Volunteer with TEDx LIbrarians.

The Social Media Pie…02.17.10

From TechCrunch:

“If you are still wondering why Google is pushing so hard with its new product Buzz, it is because it wants in on social traffic. For many sites on the Web, social traffic coming through Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace is beginning to rival, and in some cases overtake, search traffic as the single biggest source of traffic. This traffic comes from shared links, photos, and videos. By its own numbers, 5 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook every week…

Distribution of shared items
Facebook: 44%
Twitter: 29%
Yahoo:18%
MySpace:9%…

Top 10 Services, Overall

Facebook: 33%
Email: 13%
Print:9%
Twitter: 9%
Favorites: 8%
Google: 6%
MySpace: 6%
Digg: 3%
Live: 3%
Delicious: 3%…”

What digital natives want from their library…02.17.10

Wikis for Libraries to Be Released in March…02.17.10

For more on Wikis for Libraries by Lauren Pressley visit the publisher Neal-Schuman

Libraries and Smartphones…02.17.10

Excerpted from Stephen’s Lighthouse post What Smartphones Should Libraries Support?:

“Libraries are challenged with figuring our which of the many smartphone platforms and standards out there to align with their strategies. It seems to change daily but I think it depends on what your user market is.

Right now I think that this is what is predictable, barring any big changes:

1. For the special library market I’d build Blackberry apps first for intranets and special library user needs and then I’d build Apple iPhone apps. Some sectors of the special library marketplace will be quite different given the security needs of some companies, R&D institutions and the military.

2. For the academic, college and public library markets, I’d build Apple iPhone apps first and then invest in clones of those apps to work on Google Android enabled phones.

It’s anyone’s guess how this will all shake out and this is all very experimental right now but you can easliy try a few different apps ahead of time…

For my money, I think that most library apps need to be free to the end user. There are already a few to play with for OPACs and AccessMyLibrary kind of stuff…”

Choosing Personal Social Networks…02.17.10

From Lifehacker

Mobile Library Catalog Search…02.16.10

Knowledge Management Explained…02.16.10

Excerpted from Knowledge Management Explained in Five Disciplines:

“…Here is a suggestion to split Knowledge Management into five disciplines.

One: Information Management & Search

Examples:
* knowledge libraries in large corporations that allow global access to documents across departments and subsidiaries
* social bookmarking tools that classify websites and allow other users to share them
* search engines that are indexing vast collection of documents and websites

Two: Collaboration

Examples:
* contact relationship management (CRM) tools that efficiently share and store relevant information to customers, suppliers, and business partners
* corporate wiki tools that allow the capturing of experts’ knowledge and allow collaboratively develop this knowledge
* project management tools that allow disperse teams to share information, have discussions, and manage tasks & deadlines

Three: Workflow Definitions

Examples:
* the right design of a costumer complaints process can ensure that the sales departments receives more information about the customers and the research & development department gathers important input on how to improve the products
* project management methodologies can include processes to capture project reports which are automatically shared in a knowledge library

Four: Networking

Examples:
* social networking platforms allow to publish a personal profile, exchange thoughts, and keep in touch with colleagues and friends
* in online discussion forums questions are answered by a broad community; the answers are then available for the entire community for future reference

Five: Training & Learning

Examples:
* corporate induction seminars gathers all newcomers in a company at one time and provide them an introduction at the same time; this could also be done with e-learning tools
* professionals in a specific field of interest gather regularly in conferences to exchange their latest findings and discuss about it
* training programs for ‘Efficient Meetings’ (just as an example) can be conducted in two parts: a) a brief introduction to the latest findings for this topic, b) a discussion among the participants on how these findings could be applied in their environment…”

RDA – ALA Resource Description and Access Took Kit Guided Tour Webinar…02.15.10

Parts 1 & 2 of ALA Resource Description and Access Took Kit Guided Tour Webinar:

Sage Social Media Advice for Libraries, Business, Non-Profits, Etc…02.15.10

Of course, social media and increased followers are important but marketing specialist Seth Godin hit the proverbial nail on the head today in his post Viral Growth Trumps Lots of Faux Followers when he said “…SPEND YOUR TIME COMING UP WITH BETTER IDEAS, NOT MORE (FAUX) FOLLOWERS.”

“Many brands and idea promoters are in a hurry to rack up as many Facebook fans and Twitter followers as they possibly can. Hundreds of thousands if possible. A lot of these fans and followers are faux…

Check out the graph on the left [below] . The curves represent different ideas and different starting points. If you start with 10,000 fans and have an idea that on average nets .8 new people per generation, that means that 10,000 people will pass it on to 8000 people, and then 6400 people, etc. That’s yellow on the graph. Pretty soon, it dies out.

On the other hand, if you start with 100 people (99% less!) and the idea is twice as good (1.5 net passalong) it doesn’t take long before you overtake the other plan. (the green). That’s not even including the compounding of new people getting you people.

But wait! If your idea is just a little more viral, a 1.7 passalong, wow, huge results. Infinity, here we come. That’s the purple…

A slightly better idea defeats a much bigger but disconnected user base every time…”

Old ALA Reading Poster…02.15.10

From BoingBoing and Cory Doctorow today

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – Google Webmaster Central…02.15.10

Google Webmaster Central can be:

“…your one-stop shop for webmaster resources that will help with your crawling and indexing questions, introduce you to offerings that can enhance and increase traffic to your site, and connect you with your visitors…”

Libraries of the Future “in Plain English”…02.15.10

Building a Digital Library Collection User Interface…02.15.10

Generic Social Outcomes in Public Libraries…02.15.10

NEW TED Demo of New Augmented-Reality Mapping Technology from Microsoft…02.14.10