Z -   Zoho:  Zoho launched before Google Docs.  SEOmoz’s Web 2.0 Awards gave Zoho second place for “Organization” in 2008 and characterized it as a “complete office experience in one.”

Y -  YouTube RSS

X – Pick your own!

W -  Wwwhat’s new?: The site is in Spanish, but it often links to sites in English, and clicking is not a language-dependent activity.  (A recent post discusses 100 Twitter tools or 100 recursos utiles para Twitter, clasificados.)

V -  Votes Database:  from the Washington Post (and created by an intern). You can set up the RSS feeds for a particular member or all recent votes.

U -  JD Supra: Cohen maintained, “It’s got a ‘u’ in it. That’s not cheating. I’m running this thing, buddy.”  It’s a tool for lawyers to place documents on the web. The site’s tag line is: “Give Content. Get Noticed.” This could be useful in some public libraries, but mostly I like that they have a section called Hot Docs. (Man, did you see that hot doc about patent infringement? It was on fire!)

T -  Tic TOCs: The TOC here refers to Table of Contents and the site allows one to set up an RSS feed.  Cohen said, “It used to be in beta and it sucked, but now it’s really cool.” A great way to keep current with an ongoing research topic.

S -  Scribd:  “YouTube for documents.” The site was a slow when I was checking it out, but it really does seem to cast a wide net: ebooks, how-tos, resumes, periodicals, surveys.

R -  Ravelry:  The social networking tools for knitters.

Q -  QuestionPoint: I can’t recall why this was special. Feel free to chime in if you know. 

P -  Page2RSS: Create a feed for any page.  Enter the URL, press a button, grab feed and place it  in reader.  It only updates once a day, but as  Cohen said, “Free is as free does.”

O – Open Congress: Taps into the Thomas page and features many different types of feeds. Cohen likes the  issues option. After selecting on an issue, you can pick a feed option or choose “share this.”

N -  “nothing”

M – Mashable: Social media news blog. Facebook, Google, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, you name it.

L -  LibraryThing: Bazillions of RSS feeds … or more than 150,000. Follow tags, books, reviewers, etc.

K -  KillerStartups: Read about Internet start-ups, like internSHARE. Interesting way to keep track of what’s coming out of the gate.

J – Justia : Search and set up feeds for federal court filings.

I - I want to: Phil Bradley’s blog includes info about Web 2.0 things.

H – Hunch : This site is not functional yet, but is coming soon. See the Hunch Inc Fact Sheet. Hunch’s co-founder, Caterina Fake, also co-founded Flickr. Hunch aids the decision-making process.  I’ve been making decisions for 33 years. It’s time to turn it over to someone.  (Like many people, I’ve wondered “Is this an April Fool’s joke?” I hope not. I really hate making decisions, but I’ve got this hunch …)

G -  Google Reader: Cohen claims Google Reader is better than Bloglines. However, I use Bloglines.

F -  Facebook: The audience attempted to break Facebook by friending Cohen at the same moment, but we failed. However, we did manage to push him over the 500-friend mark. 

E – eHub: Web apps, services, sites with a focus on 2.0 stuff.

D -  deepest sender: It’s a Firefox blogging client, and Cohen characterized it as  “a really really slick tool.”

C -  compfight: a Flickr search tool that can also be limited it to Creative Commons.

B – BackupUrl: Create a cache copy of any url in case it goes down.  When I went to give it a go, the following message was displayed: Database connection failed: Too many connections. Did BackupUrl fail to make its own backup url?

A – the Awesome Highlighter: Enter a website’s url, click highlight  page, and then go wild with the yellow. When you’re done, it will create a unique url (like tinyurl) that you can give out.

Comment to add an “X” or “N” suggestion.

I first became aware of unconferences about six months ago, and I’ve been wanting to attend one (er, I mean … participate in one). It felt somewhat odd to attend a conference session on the topic, but as I stated previously, I could sense the impending fun.

I’d rather not define what an unconference is, but it tends to be an event where participants determine or at least refine the event’s activities and discussions. It utilizes open space technology and …

• whoever comes are the right people
• whatever happens is the only thing that could have
• whenever it starts is the right time
• when it’s over, it’s over

After the introductions, Kathryn asked the audience what we wanted to learn and a list was generated:

-how do you find space
-how do you garner institutional buy-in
-how do you prepare for an unconference
-can it be done in schools
-how do you deal with panic
-how do you get funded to attend
-how do you teach future librarians to unconference
-what are some practical techniques for facilitating conversations
-how do you deal with tech issues on the fly
-who else is doing unconferences
-how do you make sure participants participate (not just attend)

Kathryn provided an overview and history, and then the mic was passed to Steve who said the intention of the session was to produce excitement around idea of unconferences, while offering  some practical tips:

• Do not attempt to over-prepare
• You don’t have to be particularly smart to run an unconference
• Diversity of roles for planners/facilitators is handy, including someone who will remind “whatever happens is the only thing that could have” and someone who will fret and ask the questions. (Steve related, “[I'm] the manic worried guy.”)
• Library camps are casual
• Many unconferences are hybrids, and borrow some of the traditional concepts of a conference (keynotes, registration fees, etc.)
• Utilize social software: “wiki is the software expression of the unconference ethos”
• When determining date/place/time, remember:  Every day is a bad day for  somebody.

Stephen discussed what to do when the day arrives. With the relative newness of unconferences, most people will be experiencing an unconference for  the first time.  Let participants know, “We expect you  to help us come up with a schedule for the day.” Stephen also suggested giving out a small gift, like a notebook, which is also practical for taking notes.

The first 30 minutes of an unconference can be stressful as facilitators determine, with participants, the discussion topics and logistics.  After that, Stephen stated,  “The people who come really do run the event.” Notes and related information are posted to a wiki or similar space, producing a record of the event and a broadcast for those who could not attend.

Darien Library’s John Blyberg offered the following advice, “If you feed them they will come.  If  you give them liquor  they will come next time.”

The first web was built on the idea of “find” while the second was built on the idea of “connect.”

Top 5 Social Networking sites:

1. Facebook
2. MySpace
3. Twitter
4. Flixster
5. Linked In

Digital natives have always had access, and the ability to engage and connect. The presentation had a lot of neat charts and info. I’ll probably post more about this later, but here is  Blowers’ presentation on Slideshare:

The Columbus Metropolitan Library has developed a Strategy Framework around the following:

• Young Minds
• Virtual Users
• Power Users

They follow a pattern of engage, enrich, empower.

Engage: “To enable customers to connect with library staff, services and each other in meaningful ways.”

Enrich: “To provide customers with a rich online experience that enhances local branch experience and daily lives.”

Empower: “To enable customers the ability to personalize and add value to the library experience and allow the community to celebrate themselves.”

As library budgets shrink in these tough economic times, less people are going to be able or inclined at attend conferences. If I didn’t have the opportunity to see friends between info-sponging, I’d probably just tune in to the twitter feed and hope folks made some interesting blog posts.

This is something that librarians from rural and small libraries have always faced. Often they don’t have the time or budget to travel to conferences. Yesterday, I attended the Tiny Libraries, Tiny Tech, Innovative Services session even though I work for rather large system because innovation at any level is worth investigating. Smaller branches of bigger systems can experience similar staffing, resource, and support issues.  And, I agree with justnathan who tweeted, “Next year someone give this talk: What Small Libraries can Teach Big Libraries (and Everyone Else).”

Jessamyn West (see West’s CIL-related hand-outs, files, and links at librarian.net) opened the session and related, “The people who work in rural libraries rarely leave.”

As I’m looking over my notes, my coffee-low brain is having trouble putting together coherent thoughts, so here are some bullet points from the talk and West’s PowerPoint:

• “If you complain with numbers, people will listen to you.”
• “There’s a lot of stuff you can be in charge of if you’re willing to do the work.”
• Rural librarians don’t always have time to “play” and explore things like a 23 Things program
• You can convince folks to get online by telling them the library will save money: “Let us save a stamp.”
• Patrons just want things to work. They don’t necessarily care about cutting-edge technologies.

The second half of the session highlighted My Kansas Library On the Web (KLOW), a program that allows Kansas libraries to request a website (a WordPress blog) that they can easily update and maintain. As West stated earlier, rural librarians often cannot attend conferences.  The two other presenters, Brenda Hough from MaintainIT and Heather Braum from Northeast Kansas Library System, showed video of Kansas librarians talking about the program.

I’m going to try to dig up the video links, but for now enjoy the following quote from a Kansas librarian that I wrote down: “I wouldn’t wait until everything is perfect to get something started.” Words to live by.

Wisniewski started off by noting bad reasons and good reasons to initiate redesign. Bad ones included boredom with current site and “my boss says I have to” while good reasons included:

• navigation is dysfunctional
• difficult to update
• “hopelessly sick” code
• poor usability
• site not performing according to goals and objective

Wisniewski stated that users typically dislike redesigns, citing Facebook as an example, and  work through the five stages of user grief (denial, anger,  bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance).

Libraries often fail to account for assessment time before redesign. Where do users go on your sites? He suggested checking out Google Analytics and Clicky.  If a usability study hasn’t been done recently, do one now. Find and document current page rank. And while he suggested reaching a consensus on goals, he advised: “If you can avoid committees, do so.”

Wisniewski discussed that users and librarians have different expectations for sites. It makes more sense to design for the user and expect the librarian, an information seeking pro, to adjust.  He also advocated exploring “outside the box” options like content management systems, blogs, and wikis. (I later attended a “tiny tech” session where many smaller and rural libraries in Kansas are using WordPress blogs as library websites, but more on that later.)

It’s also a good idea to look at sites other than library sites because user expectations of what library sites should do are based on the web as a whole.  Further, make sure to have specific measurable goals of what the site should do.  Define clear paths: what are the primary functions of your site? Design around these tasks.

I was scribbling down the previous sentence when I heard, “Is anyone here from Queens?” I looked up and it took me a few seconds to register that I was looking at my library’s website.  I raised my hand and said, “Oh! Um, uh … yeah!” It then became somewhat mortifying when  Wisniewski said, “What? You don’t know?”  I was surprised the site was mentioned and that surprise grew when Wisniewski held it up as a good example of a site that defined its primary function as finding materials and then designed around supporting that task.

As an institution with a staff of experts, we should draw on our remarkable capacity for content. Wisniewski also said, “Cut and paste should die” and libraries should make sure all text and content is written in such a way that it is optimized for the web. Don’t be lazy! Rewrite and tweak.

Lastly, be as transparent as possible, and consider communicating about the process through a blog or wiki (example: Cook Library Website Redesign).

Usability links:

• Useit.com
• Usability.gov
• User Interface Engineering

2009 Computers in Libraries Program