Facebook introduces "Groups for Schools"

In a throwback to the early days of Facebook, the company is introducing "Groups for Schools" - an initiative that will allow student organizations, classes, and other student groups a virtual area for users to share photos, videos, and any other kind of file.  This makes me think of a few questions:

1) What does this mean for preserving student organization activity?  If these are private groups with ever changing files and media, how can these records be preserved?

2) What are the implications of file sharing through Facebook?  What will be the liability issues surrounding copyright infringement?  And how can libraries and archives encourage copyright literacy and best practices within the campus?

3)  Will this be the push that will make students less hesitant to share their "personal" FB account information with their on-campus student work employers, professors, and other administrative staff?  Vice versa: will faculty or staff be hesitant to use these Groups for their class work in order to avoid mixing personal and professional web reputations?

A New Resource for Archives Job Seekers

Though I'm certainly not the first to blog about this new site, it was recently forwarded to me through the Kent State Univ. listserv. There's been quite a lot of buzz about it, and rightfully so! Opencoverletters.com is a site that shows cover letters written by those seeking jobs in the library and archives fields. Not only are they specific to our industry, but they have all led to interviews.

I strongly suggest that those who have written interview-getting cover letters submit their own. All personal information is redacted to protect privacy and to avoid awkward work situations. Plus, think of the karma points when your job search begins and you find yourself needing a little guidance! :)

Glogster: An Interactive Poster

Have you heard of Glogster? Perhaps I'm a little behind the times, as it was founded in 2007, but I just recently saw it and it's a fantastic output for information and a great way to teach information and communication in the classroom. Here's the "About Glogster" Glog (click the green button in the top left if you want the music to stop):

Here is one that is focused on classroom learning and information literacy:

The possibilities are endless ! It would be great to see some creative outreach in the Glogster format- Archives Month would be a great example.

GMail Motion

... :)

Blogger: 2011

You may know I'm a fan of Blogger. I have ArchivesReboot.com, SashaGriffin.net, and the newly created JourneysToAmerica.blogspot.com (More about that later...). Anyway, if there was ever a time to seriously consider using Blogger over Wordpress or any other service, this may be the year.

There is a killer new interface coming out- and this YouTube video gives us the sneak peak.

So about the new Journeys to America blog:

As you may know, I recently took a position at Luther College working on their NHPRC grant-funded project Journeys to America. I decided to begin a project blog that documents the process, not only for our own internal record keeping (it's a great tool come interim report time) but also for other users who may be in the same boat as us. We're using the open-source software Archon to create a digital catalog of materials and there has been a lot of trial-and-error.

Since its launch, there has been quite a lot of traffic on the site, thanks to a mention in the NHPRC March Newsletter. I've also already had hits from Google searches for Archon troubleshooting help. So far, it seems to be holding up to our expectations.

This all brings me back to this post. Why don't you give Blogger a try? It is so easy to use and is a great way to market your organization and/or a specific project. Plus, you can add multiple authors, so your entire staff can contribute. It's a great implementation of Web 2.0 technology and allows you to have a stronger web presence with minimal effort.

QR Codes (re-visited)

So, great news! I'm actually going to be implementing the QR code idea into the archives at Luther College. After the materials are cataloged and entered into Archon, we'll be creating QR codes that will direct to the box list online. We'll be attaching the codes to the boxes on the shelf, so we can instantly read what the contents are of each box and browse other boxes nearby by swipe/scrolling on our newly purchased iPod Touch! I'll be sure to keep the blog updated with my progress and include a few photos, too.

To celebrate, here's an awesome video that is part of the Google Demo Slam Project. (If you have a few minutes, head over to the Slampionship and vote for some of the best demo videos!)

Pushing Technology to the Edge

You may (or may not) have heard- this week the game show Jeopardy! will be pitting humans versus computer. IBM has developed an extremely advanced machine named Watson that will be competing against two of the best Jeopardy! players of all time: Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter.



Certainly, this technology is not anywhere near the consumer level ... yet. We have seen this style of Q&A tech skyrocket on customer service telephone calls. In the future, whether 5 years or 10 years away, can this advancement eventually replace common reference in libraries and archives?

Of course, there's a good side and a bad side to everything. It's a little scary to think of humans losing jobs to computers, especially in a field so heavily saturated with fresh MLIS-grads looking for just about anything. Also, how will knowledge management be treated if in-house knowledge begins to accrue within hard drives and discs rather than brains?

Being a tech-addict, I can't forget the positive aspect of implementing this into an archives. The benefit of freeing up valuable human time would be immense. How much of your day-to-day is filled with answering basic reference questions that you (probably) have answered 10 times earlier this year? This leaves time that can be spent on preservation and conservation, tackling those projects you've always wished you could do, and digging out that backlog.

Regardless of which side of the coin you fall, tune in this week to watch Watson take on the humans!