The eBook and the Machine of Death

This is actually a topic close to me, about an anthology called Machine of Death. It has a long history that all started from this comic that posed a rather interesting writing prompt to the masses of the Internet. Suddenly, there was an open call for short stories and the Machine of Death came to be, in both print and ebook format. It was self-published by the editors and is an amazing exercise in how hundreds of people can independently write such varying stories all thanks to a T-Rex.

What's most interesting is that you can actually download the ebook for free, right now. The creators describe their thought process behind this here, and it's a really interesting concept. Since they don't really have to answer to a big, faceless publisher, they can feel free to offer this book without having to consider printing costs and the like.

Thanks to the success of the first book, they've since held another open call for stories and published a second book on the idea, called This is How You Die. Unfortunately, since they did have to go through a publisher, TiHYD is not available gratis. I'd still recommend both books for those who would be interested in the concept.

Future of Books and Netflix

While researching the future of books, I stumbled upon an article that explained an interesting new service related to reading. The article, titled The Future of Books looks a lot like Netflix, was published in Wired, a magazine about technological innovations and trends, on March 11, 2014. It discusses a service called Rooster, which is a section of a larger company called Plympton. Rooster works in a way that is very similar to Netflix; for 5 dollars a month, the subscriber receives "bite-sized pieces of fiction". The short pieces create 2 full books within the span of a month. Much like Netflix, Rooster can title the books you receive to your preferences and previous interests. According to the article, similar "literary subscription" services already exist and are growing in popularity. I thought this was an interesting spin on the "future of books" question, slightly different than the ebooks discussion we read about for class. At the same time, it reminded me of the way that some Charles Dickens' (and other authors') books were written; in weekly or monthly installments in a newspaper, rather than as a traditional novel. It'll be interesting to see if this service is a fad, or a trend that continues to grow in popularity.

Final Project Outline: Twitter and Academic Libraries

Final Project Outline (Formatted as Tabs on a WordPress blog):

• Twitter: A Basic how to guide
• Starting your own Twitter Profile- Creating a Handle, adding your information, and adding a picture
• Using Twitter- Character Limits, Hashtags, and tweeting at other users
• Uploading other forms of media to Twitter
• Why use Twitter for an academic library?
• Reaching your audience: Students
• Students are most likely to follow Academic Libraries on Twitter (Sewell), (Kim)
• In today’s world, a large portion of marketing is done through social media, especially to the younger generation
• Twitter is a great way to introduce students to the library collection or events (Baker)
• Twitter gives students the opportunity to interact with library staff- this can provide a great way to answer simple reference questions or gauge how students feel about the library (Forrestal) (Matthews)
• Twitter can be a great tool and librarians can push the boundaries of how they use the technology- one example would be a librarian using Twitter to engage with a class (FIlgo)
• Some tips for using twitter in an academic context
• Language- Many libraries tend towards formal language because of the nature of the institution you represent. It’s important to have a conversation about tone (Aharony)
• Educating librarians on how to properly engage with the Twitter technology- this means using hashtags and taking advantage of all the features to their fullest extent (Cvetkovic) (Darcy)
• Frequency- Most students follow a lot of people on twitter, so it’s important to Tweet fairly frequently to make sure your posts are being seen
• Content- When conducting my interview with an academic librarian who helps to run their twitter, she spoke a lot about the struggles of coming up with content. It’s important to have a number of people contributing to coming up with content and brainstorming ideas of what should be tweeted and when.
• Interview with an Academic Librarian- Posted and Briefly outlined
• Case Study-
• Some Statistics on the UW-Madison Academic Library Twitter account and analysis
• Using Twitonomy and pulling examples from the @UWMadLibraries account

Short Term Loaning of eBooks- A Case Study

While searching for some quick ideas about how librarians can promote eBook circulation, I came across a citation for a post from the "No Shelf Required" blog. Entitled "Financial Importance of Short-term loaning eBooks, a Case Study," this piece by Sue Polanka reviews data provided by an academic library about the benefits of offering patrons short term eBook loans over traditional monographs.

The academic library in the case study provided its customers access to eBooks through EBL, which essentially charges $10 per use. While this may seem like a lot if customers only need one piece of information, the study concluded that offering eBooks actually provided more content for their users, with significant savings to the library. I'll let the authors of the study do the heavy lifting:

"In four months from September through December 2009, Grand Valley State University (GVSU) had 2,269 transactions with EBL.  All but 160 were short-term loans.  The 160 were purchases.

Let’s do the numbers:

• Had GVSU bought 2,269 books at an average price of $74 US (which was the average price of the books that attracted transactions):                                 2269 X $74 = $167,906
• Actually, GVSU bought 160 Books:                                           160 X $74= $11,840

The remaining 2,109 transactions (2,269 – 160 = 2,109) were short-term loans in which EBL charges 5 to 10 percent of the list price of the book.

• Total cost of short-term loans                    =                             $20,382
• Total spent by GVSU:                                                                     $11,840 + $20,382= $32,322

Savings by GVSU on its transactions with EBL -  $167,906 – $32,322 = $135,584"

While it's unlikely to think all those books would've been purchased, this post does point out that most collections go about 40% unused. In this case, "renting" books actually helped the GVSU Library offer more resources to students.

Polanka, Sue. 2010. Financial Importance of Short-term loaning eBooks, a Case Study. No Shelf Required. Online article, June 23.

Facebook, Advertising, and Teens

1.       Facebook

a.       Social networking site

b.      Free

c.       Uses:

                                                              i.      Personal

                                                            ii.      Professional/Advertising

2.       How to use Facebook for advertising:

a.       Techniques

3.       Pros of library use in outreach to teens:

a.       Linked accounts

b.      More privacy features

c.       Customizable

d.      Pages can be “liked”

e.      Posts can be designed to instigate conversations

4.       Cons of library use in outreach to teens:

a.       Teens are difficult to get into the library

b.      Dropped from 42-23% of teens saying Facebook was their preferred social media choice

                                                              i.      Twitter and Instagram use have increased

c.       Inaccurate Information

d.      Posting technique important

e.      Many people don’t know the library has a FB page or may not follow it for other reasons

5.       Future of Facebook use for the library

a.       Multiple platforms

6.       Conclusions/Questions

One Laptop Per Child Outline

K.Karr - One Laptop Per Child Outline

Introduction- Is the One Laptop Per Child a viable program for supporting a constructivist theory of learning?

• The thinking behind the program, and the proliferation of technology.
• Personal practice- not as intuitive as purported.
• Despite theories of constructivist learning, research does not support that the laptops were the best choice.
• The future of the program- tablets, and American schools. The money may be spent better elsewhere. (Tucker article)

The Mission of OLPC

• Origins- Nicholas Negroponte’s vision, and the official statements of the project, (OLPC website and Kane book)
• Implementation - The original proliferation of materials was viewed with optimism. (Callister Article) (Warschauer 2010)

The Hardware

• Specs, programs (OLPC materials). Beneficial because of the programmability, and the tenacity of the material.
• Personal testing - Review of my experiences. Perhaps it takes a child to understand, but the best way to use these machines would be with the advent of adult instruction.

The Results

• The early studies did not have positive results.
• Kramer article - THE study on the results. Reality and vision did not sync up as hoped.
• The Fuse Project- the OLPC essentially discontinued?

The Future

• Popular Science article- Has OLPC Lost its Way?
• Moving on to tablets via the Fuse Project. Does technology change too fast for the program? Or does it mean cheaper machines faster?  (Warschauer 2014)
• Negroponte interview reveals he doesn't think its a failure, he keeps looking forward to MOOCS, etc. (Tucker 2014)
• Overall, an admirable goal, but amount of “money per student” could be spent on healthcare, education for less than the cost of the technologies. (Warschauer 2010)

Outline for Second Life in Public Libraries Presentation

     1)      Introduction: Main Aspects of Second Life

a)      Create customizable and interactive spaces

b)      Interact with other players (e.g. avatars)

c)       Customize the look of your avatar

d)      Create/belong to a community

           2)      Body

a)      Benefits to Library Patrons within the Public Library Reference Services

i)        Creative space

ii)       Reach an wider audience not coming to the library

b)      Possible Drawbacks

i)        Lack of staff

ii)       Lack of Marketing

iii)     Lose of interest in technology

c)       Demographics of SL users

           3)      Conclusion: Future of Virtual Platforms in the Public Library

a)      Minecraft…the next big thing?

i)        How is it being used

ii)       What are people, especially librarians saying

b)      Other 3-D examples

i)        Madison Public Library – the Bubbler

ii)       Arapahoe [Colorado] Libraries – Oculus Rift Gaming Headset