Monday, May 31, 2010

Thoughts on Open Access : An Interview with Diane Graves

Published in Serials Review, 2010, Vol 36, pp 112-115. Megan Dazey interviews Diane Graves, University Library, professor, and chair of the faculty senate at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
Trinity has recently adopted an open access policy. This article talks about why they did this and what it means for the faculty at Trinity.

Publishing in Open Access Education Journals : The Authors' Perspective

Published in Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarian, 2010, Vol 29, pp118-132, by Bryna Coonan and Leigh Younce.
Most open access publication to date has been in the sciences, with less in the social sciences. This article reports the results of a survey of 309 authors from recent issues of open access journals in education to find out why they chose to publish in such journals.
Also discusses the role of liaison librarians in educating their users to publish in open access journals.

Monday, August 24, 2009

7 Things you should know about Google Apps

This 7 Things describes Google's collection of web based programmes and file storage that run in a web browser. Users don't have to buy and install software; instead they just log on to get to their files and the applications needed to manipulate them.
There are apps for communication (gmail, Google Talk and Google Calendar), productivity tools (word processing, spreadsheets, presentations and surveys) and more. The base version is free or users can pay to get extra features.
Google Apps are popular with students and some tertiary institutions are now using gmail for students while maintaining inhouse systems for staff. There is concern amongst staff about keeping their files on someone else's server with resulting security breaches and loss of control.
It's possible for a group of users to share files so they can, eg, work collaboratively on a document rather than distributing copies to each user so they can work on them separately.
The big plus for Google Apps (and similar products from other providers) is that they foster a collaborative teaching and learning environment.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Gartner's Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2008

"Technologies and trends at or approaching the Hype Cycle peak include green IT, cloud computing and social networking platforms. Corporate use of virtual worlds and Web 2.0 are slipping into the Trough of Disillusionment, while SOA begins its ascent of the Slope of Enlightenment."

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Media work and media practice

This program was originally broadcast on ABC Radio National on 10 April 2008, and was re-broadcast on 15 January 2009. Three prominent thinkers on contemporary media issues discussed issues to do with user-generated content.
Henry Jenkins focussed on YouTube. He feels it's not as inclusive and democratic as it might be - not everyone feels that it's the right place for their own content, and censorship and/or self-censorship may exclude some content. Furthermore, it's not just about the individual - he feels that a lot of content is generated by groups and communities.
Mark Deuze has researched media workplaces. He discusses the impermanence of audiences (here one day, somewhere else the next), and the impermanence of the workplace for those employed in it. The media organisations are relying more and more on user-generated content and those users are impermanent too - they might spend a lot of time on FaceBook now, but in six months' time they'll be somewhere else.
John Hartley "questions why a medium like TV that is so pervasive and can be so influential has long been treated with distrust". People have been quick to blame bad social problems on the influence of TV. However, now, with the audience generating content too, who controls and who has the power to control?

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Author's Rights, Tout de Suite

This 2008 paper by Charles W Bailey Jr is the most lucid explanation I've read of an author's rights, publisher agreements, self-archiving, open access, and associated copyright issues.
The paper is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

And another paper on ebooks

Titled Ex Libris' Response to the E-Book Focus Group Report: Recommendations and Requirements for E-Book Functionality, it was published by Ex Libris in June 2008.
It offers an interesting discussion of possible enhancements to ebook functionality to render ebooks more findable and usable.
The appendices cover ancillary topics including definition of an ebook, where ebooks fit into institutional strategies, findings from the University College, London, Superbook Project (using deep log analysis to see how users actually behave when using ebooks), future roles for university publishing, providing students with digitised core course readings, and the impact of open access.