Blogging and other tools

Here I am again trying to think about something interesting to blog about and coming up blank. So, I thought I would reflect on blogging itself and technology tools.

I would describe blogging as a way for individuals to share their thoughts and experiences with others. They can be used as a way for someone to deliver and/or receive information to selective individuals or large audiences. In this class, we are required to post a blog every week about something relative to our class and to reply to two other classmates’ blogs. The idea is that we (likely the instructor too) will gain more knowledge by this group sharing. In theory, this is true. Yet, I find the assignment to be tedious. I have wondered if I would find it to be as tedious if we were required to turn in a one page paper every week in place of the blog. I believe I would still find the assignment to be a heavy work load (welcome to grad school) but I am not convinced I would have such difficulties in finding topics to write about. There is no rhyme or reason to it other than the technology aspect of it and my having difficulties adapting to it.

I also had the same feeling about podcasting. While my group was trying to create our podcast, we had major difficulties getting the program to work on the computers. I was at a loss as to why anyone would like this technology. However, once we got the basic recordings finished and began manipulating them I saw the potential they had. Once they were all played during class, I was blown away by what heard from my other classmates’ podcasts. They were amazing. I still cannot see myself creating podcasts in the future, but at least I have a better understanding of the potential they have.

As I was finishing typing this blog I noticed that Blogger automatically saves my work like most Google tools. This is a feature that I have really begun to appreciate, especially in Google Docs. I am fairly new at using Google Docs but have become a fan of the tool. My favorite feature is my ability to access my work from any computer that has internet access; I also really like how it automatically saves your work. This has gotten me to thinking a little bit more about technology and my future usage of it. I would like to think that by my embracing and using a lot of the technology that is out there, and familiarizing myself, at least to some degree, with the common technology used by the rest of the community, that this would be enough. In most professions I believe this would be true; but, is it true for librarians? I wonder if it is actually enough to only familiarize yourself with the technology that your patron’s are using.

Boyd and McMurria

For this week’s blog I thought I would ramble about a couple of our readings. I just finished reading Danah Boyd’s article, “Viewing American class division through Facebook and MySpace” and found the article enlightening. Perhaps I was being a little naïve, or just not opening up my eyes, but I had never thought about their being a class divide involved with SNS’s. I was aware, of course, of socioeconomics playing a roll, at least when it came to computer access, but I was unaware of the class divide between Facebook and MySpace users. The article was written in 2007, I am curious to know how Boyd would interpret the SNS’s class division now. I feel that there has been a lot of new users to these SNS’s within the last couple of years. Different age groups are now participating in the SNS’s that were not mentioned by Boyd. I have noticed Facebook being popular among adults aged over thirty and have also noticed middle school aged students participating. In my experience, the adults tend to use Facebook and the young adults use MySpace and/or Facebook. Of course, after reading this article I wonder if this is because of class factors. I have also noticed a lot of parents being “friends” on their kids’ SNS’s. I wonder what Boyd would say to that.

Now onto a personal ranting about part of John McMurria’s “The YouTube Community” article. Wow! Talk about a class divide! I wonder if Boyd would refer to the YouTube community as hegemonic. I am always amazed by the number of people who feel the need to push their values onto everyone else while in the same breath they talk of democracy. As if the other person’s values are not acceptable or somehow inferior to their own. The small town image spoken of by Paul Robinett in McMurria’s article hardly represents America. According to the 2005 census, 83 percent of Americans live in metro areas. Robinett’s community does reflect a piece of America, but a very small piece. To be a truly democratic source, YouTube (and technology in general) has to get past this class divide. I feel that will only happen when people quit trying to dictate their values onto others. Just as we attempted to racially desegregate our country by beginning with our schools, it is time we desegregate technology by beginning with the school room. Instead of opposing technology, or at best ignoring it, schools and teachers need to embrace it and provide ALL of their students with access and the necessary skills to use this technology. You cannot be truly democratic unless all members of the community are given the opportunity to participate. This does not appear to be taking place.

A beautiful PowerPoint?

Being unable to think about something to blog I thought I would write about a PowerPoint article I recently read in Library Journal (March 2009). In the article, “The Power of PowerPoint,” Christopher Harris discusses the bad rap PowerPoint has gotten and argues that is not the fault of the software. Harris blames the user as being the cause to bad presentations, and says; how we deliver a presentation is the key. In this article, Harris refers to a presentation given by Palm at the Consumer Electric Show in January 2009 (http://www.palm.com/us/products/phones/pre/ces-video). In Palm’s presentation, Jon Rubinstein, the presenter, treated the presentation like a story in order to connect to his customers. And avoiding a common mistake a lot of presenters make, instead of using bulleted information filled with facts, Rubinstein used full screen images and very little text. Harris also points to an Al Gore presentation as using the same idea of full screen images and suggests a few references for people looking for PowerPoint tips.

I found the article interesting and the portion of Palm’s presentation that I was able to view, visually stimulating. Not only was I able to envision the product Rubinstein was selling, but by presenting it in a story style with full screen images he was able to keep my attention. Another aspect of the Palm presentation I liked was how simple the images were. I was able to follow what Rubinstein was trying to present and did not get distracted by the slide show itself.

I can see how using PowerPoint in this fashion would be beneficial and successful to a director or someone presenting some sort of expansion of the library or a new program at the library to their board. The Palm presentation was a beautiful presentation; however, it is a sales pitch being presented on a theater size screen. I have to admit, I am having troubles envisioning such a PowerPoint being used in one of my Pratt classes. I wish Harris would have given a library oriented presentation as an example. I do recommend this article and watching the PowerPoint presentation to anyone who delivers PowerPoint presentations. I know I will be reviewing this article and the sources provided again before giving my next PowerPoint presentation.