Welcome to Carnival of the Infosciences #49!

Here in Toronto, when we think of carnival, we think of the Caribbean festival Caribana. This year Caribana took place July 22 - August 7, 2006 so the party mood is still in the air. Like blogging, Caribana is a social activity meant to look at the best of the human condition while also celebrating our glorious individual expression. Follow me through the festivities....

100_1474, originally uploaded by ProdigyBoy. Some rights reserved under Creative Commons.

Children's Carnival

This includes our future band leaders and parade organizers in action!

The generation of librarians coming up is definitely engaged in our profession. This week's fine example is Joy Weese Moll who took time away from studying her Cluetrain to write a very clever rant in Discover Your Strengths at Wanderings of a Student Librarian. She is perturbed by a book/web site called Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham & Donald O. Clifton in which part of the self-help is meant to be accomplished by using a website that can only be accessed once using a passcode. Since she is working with a library copy of the book, you can imagine the result when Joy tries to access the website. Nonetheless, she perseveres by assessing what the results of the website might give her:

My Connectedness strength leads me to believe that a secondary motivator for such a book should be to change the world. You don't do that by hiding your light under a bushel or behind a firewall. The message in this book really could change our organizations. It delivers a convincing argument that the path to excellence is in developing our strengths while the path to mediocrity lies in attempting to remediate our weaknesses. But I can't recommend it to my organization--we would have to buy 150 copies to get started.

Both of these concerns, helping people and changing the world, should at least appear to take precedence over milking every last dollar out of the consuming public. The appearance of greediness takes something away from the overall message of the book--it makes me doubt its sincerity

The Industrial Librarian Dave Hook tells us that the growing neophyte organization Librarians Without Borders is now looking for applications for its Board of Directors. If you agree with their ideals, and perhaps have some knowledge or skills from which this young group can learn, you might want to consider applying:

We are looking for individuals who share LWB’s values and can offer their passion or expertise to the benefit of the organization, in areas such as financial management, non-profit governance, strategic planning, policy development, fundraising, international development, world libraries, communications, and human resources / volunteer management. We seek to nominate candidates so that the Board balances these interests (regardless of experience). But, of course, enthusiasm and dedication are the main qualifications required for these positions!

Arts & Cultural Festival

How do we work with the skills and tools we have? What culture has resulted from our work?

In Google's Phish Net (Aug. 10th) Kelli Staley updates us on the newest features of the Google Toolbar, both IE and Firefox versions. This from the 'Brary Web Diva is particularly interesting:

The new "safe browsing" feature is cool too! A warning pops up if you visit a suspected phishing site! yes, this was an extension, but now it's built in for everybody! I think they should have called it PhishNet.

Scott Vine, the Information Overlord from the U.K., provides us with a topical and useful list of RSS feeds from the U.K. government.

In the group blog Out of the Jungle, one of my favourite bloggers, Betsy McKenzie, continued her on-going discussion about the nature of the colour pink and working in a female dominated profession (librarianship) working alongside male dominated professions (academic and law) in Pink Conversation: Can Men be Pink? Betsy writes:

Librarianship is where I really found that supportive network of women who really want others to succeed. Who understand that the success of others only enhances their own success, never diminishes it.

And I have to say that I have male colleagues in the library and academic communities who have that same excellent attitude to collaboration. I am so pleased to have good friends, no matter what genderly persuasion, who have that terrific supportive nature.

So, if I define PINK as the aspect of helpful supportiveness, a collaborative attitude, yeah, I guess guys can be pink too. After all, if even cowgirls can get the blues, it's only fair that cowboys can be pink sometimes, too.

Steel Bands

Caribbean Soul - Pix from Caribana, originally uploaded by neuroticjose. Some rights reserved under Creative Commons.

Great things happen when people work together on ideas and projects! Like the steel bands, these bloggers are making beautiful music together:

Over at Science Library Pad, in response to Lorcan Dempsey's post Discovery and disclosure about making your content visible in as many venues as possible, Richard Akerman discusses the user experience in an online world in online library role in discovering and delivering. This is actually part of a larger exchange of posts between Lorcan and Richard, so it is worth the time to follow back and forth between their posts. From Richard's latest essay:

It doesn't suffice simply to know that a book is in the library, what I want to know is when the book (or its contents) can come to me. That means online availability includes delivery options as a crucial element.

Can I get it immediately on my desktop as an e-book and/or audiobook? Can I have it on all my mobile devices? Can I get the book from the library in the mail? Can I get it couriered to me today? Can it be delivered with my newspaper tomorrow morning? Can I get it from Amazon? Can I get it used from Abebooks or Alibris? Does someone who lives near me have a copy? Is it on Project Gutenberg? Available as a book-on-demand printed copy? Can someone come read it to me? Can someone read it to me over the telephone? Is there a book club that is covering it? Can someone explain it to me? ...

You can see that in the online world, you're no longer in the warehousing business. You're in the logistics and collaborative partnership business. You have to decide
where your library should fit, are you a single one of the above options, or are you
an enabler for all of them?

There is no logic, to me, in the library trying to run this supply chain. I think libraries need to outsource and insource - connect out to partners as well as let them connect in to you.

What's your delivery strategy?

Have you considered
partnering with:

• your postal service


• local and national couriers, e.g. FedEx and UPS


• other local delivery services, like your local newspapers


• volunteer organizations


• ebook and audiobook providers


• mobile device providers


• Google,


• Amazon, AbeBooks, Alibris, WorldCat, LibraryThing, Project Gutenberg,
  ...

Coincidentally, Michael Casey presents one such idea in Helene's Netflix/Amazon Mashup posted at LibraryCrunch. Library Crunch focuses on "service for the next generation library" and this post certainly typifies that goal. It discusses an idea by Helene Blowers, Public Services Technology Director for the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) in Charlotte, North Carolina which would allow for inexpensive delivery of materials:

Helene's idea was to utilize Amazon's library processing service in order to have pre-processed books sent directly to the library customer's home, where that person would, after reading the book, bring it to the library and, by returning it, enter it into the library's circulating collection. The book will already have its requisite spine label, bar code and mylar cover, so no additional processing will be required. Even the MARC record will already have been sent from Amazon, so the material will already by in your catalog.

Helene encouraged Michael to write about this, but as Michael pointed out, Helene's blog Library TechBytes will also be one to watch. Helene Blower really rocks this week! You should also have a look at the blog Learning 2.0 which contains the contents of PLCMC's Learning 2.0 program including text, graphics, and podcast. A brilliant use of the technology to explain the technology and some of the results that can be achieved with it. Thanks to Joy Weese Moll for telling me about this one.

King & Queen of the Bands

Caribbean Soul - Pix from Caribana, originally uploaded by neuroticjose. Some rights reserved under Creative Commons.

My favourite submission this week is from ricklibrarian Rick Roche. In Hangouts Feed Souls of Lonely by Kayce T. Ataiyero (A Chicago Tribune Article with Implications for Public Libraries), Rick describes an article he read about a restaurant frequented by seniors that dishes out much-needed hugs with its meals. He extrapolates that with so many seniors frequenting libraries, many may also be in need of similar attention. So much today we worry about how libraries are going to serve the younger generations, Y, Nexgen, N, etc., but often we forget about that other growing population, seniors. And turning the tables, Rick points out:

I am not really the kind of person to hang out at restaurants or taverns, so when I am older and perhaps lonely, I hope there is a public library for me. I might need more than books.

Rachel presents a technically enlightening discussion in What's Up with Mesh Tags posted at Women's Health News. She explains the use of "MeSH" or Medical Subject Headings in her blog. Click on the MeSH tags (a.k.a. controlled vocabulary for the librarians in the crowd) and it takes you into search results in PubMed. Very clever! Her procedure of selecting and adding the tags and then tieing them into PubMed requires a bit of work, but she explains that using MeSH on her blog helps her learn and keep up with the subject headings for her work. She also explains "it goes fairly quickly once you are used it and start to have many of the terms memorized." Great job, Rachel! Something for all of us to consider in our respective industries, especially when blogging for our clients.

Caribbean Soul - Pix from Caribana, originally uploaded by neuroticjose. Some rights reserved under Creative Commons.

The Parade

Colours, originally uploaded by Evoke. Some rights reserved under Creative Commons.

Last week in his podcast Check This Out! Jim Milles continues his series on Law Librarians at Work. He spoke with these librarians during the recent American Association of Law Libraries conference held in St. Louis: Diane Murley, Eileen Searls, Jim Kelly, June Liebert, Marian Parker, Nancy Babb, Tom Boone, and Steve Anderson. Jim is one of the most collegial librarians I know; he has encouraged many librarians in their professional efforts, myself included. If you haven't listened to his podcast before, I definitely encourage you to give it a try.

Michael Lines, Law Librarian and Information Coordinator /Bibliothécaire et coordonnateur de l'information for the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice/Forum canadien sur la justice civile in Edmonton headed us up over at Canadian co-operative legal research blog Slaw in a week-long look at Grey Literature (GL) in Canadian law. GL is better known in other areas such as medical librarianship, but it was a new concept to us in law; it is not surprising, then, that for a number of the discussions surround defining GL. Others not familiar with this concept will definitely find it of interest. In addition to posts by regular contributors who are law librarians, law professors, research lawyers, and knowledge managers, Michael facilitated posts by these fabulous guest bloggers to explain a thing or two:

Professor Kathryn Arbuckle, Law Librarian at the John A. Weir Memorial Law Library, University of Alberta;

Susan Salo, head of CISTI’s London NIC (NRC Information Centre);

Jim Suderman, member of the Canadian research team in the UBC-based InterPARES 2 research project directed by Dr. Luciana Duranti;

Hannelore Dekeyser, a legal researcher at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Law & ICT (K.U.Leuven, Belgium);

John Willinsky, Professor at the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia and the Public Knowledge Project.

Floats

Caribbean Soul - Pix from Caribana, originally uploaded by neuroticjose. Some rights reserved under Creative Commons.

Floating a controversial idea, Tom Boone presents Library Laws... Are Meant to Be Broken. Tom argues that law libraries should no longer need specialized Electronic Services Librarians on staff; skills traditionally held by those in this position out now to be core competencies for all law libraries. Tom says:

In this day and age, all reference librarians should be well-versed in CALR [Computer Assisted Legal Research]. Most legal research is now performed using electronic resources, thus every reference librarian at a law school must know the ins and outs of these systems just to do the bare minimum required by their job descriptions. Those who aren't are courting obsolescence. So the idea that only one librarian in an institution should master these tools is outdated. This is now every reference librarian's job.

Being in a smaller law firm library, we have certainly functioned in this manner. As manager, most of the collection development is part of my responsibility so "collecting" new services certainly is included so I do the licensing as a result. Larger organizations might have someone else doing this, but it does not necessarily have to be a whole separate role.

The Crowds

Caribbean Soul - Pix from Caribana, originally uploaded by neuroticjose. Some rights reserved under Creative Commons.

Walt Crawford has again surveyed and analyzed the metrics of library-related blogs in his newsletter Cites & Insights. Looking at Liblogs: The Great Middle [pdf, 30 pages], also available as a link from his blog Walt at Random, looks at over 200 blogs culled from over 500 blogs he identified. He looked at blog posts between March and May 2006 and compiled data including blog start date, frequency of posts, number of comments, comments per post, total length of post, average length of post, and size of blogroll, software used, typeface, text alignment and colours for readability, and use of a Creative Commons license. He gives a general write-up of the results, then gives a brief summary for each blog included in the survey. One encouraging note:

I’ve heard enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that blog readership has grown quite a bit. That may reflect ease of use via aggregators (with people subscribing who’ve never heard of “RSS”); it may also reflect the quality of library-related blogs

Thanks again to Joy Weese Moll who brought Walt's work to my attention! I see a lot of familiar names in the list, so everyone will want to check it out. Incidentally, because this survey was a lot of work (Walt gave up a good part of his summer for it) please do drop him a line and let him know how useful you find it. He'd appreciate the love.

The Party's Just Starting

Thank you for joining me this week! Next up we have The 'Brary Web Diva Kelli Staley who has the honour of hosting our golden episode, Carnival of the Infosciences #50! And if I missed your earth shattering post this week, don't forget you do have to submit it to increase your chances of a mention. You have the choice of sending your submission directly to the host or filling out the form over at the infosciences wiki. Kudos go to Greg Schwartz who keeps the Carnival running. Thanks, Greg!!

Cheers,
Connie

CARIBANA 2006, originally uploaded by Osei (Ozzy). Some rights reserved under Creative Commons.

This themed post was inspired by Blawg Review , the carnival of law bloggers, notably Blawg Review #35 wherein attorney Colin Samuels placed me in the first circle of Hell, Limbo, in a marvelous Dante's Inferno-inspired post over at Infamy or Praise. That was the first time I had seen a carnival and obviously it left an impression!

Coming Soon! Carnival of the Infosciences #49

I'm a little late to the Carnival but nonetheless excited to be hosting this coming week's instalment!

The Carnival of the Infosciences is a roving review of library/infosciences blog postings from the previous week. Its purpose is to highlight not only some key posts from the past week in our industry, but also to show off some blogs you may not have come across before.

If you would like to get in on the action and have me consider your blog post for review, send an email to connieblog@sympatico.ca . The deadline is Sunday, August 13 at 6 pm EST. My review will be posted sometime on Monday, August 14th.

Please, don't leave me to my own devices or I might miss your most brilliant blog post yet! I encourage you to email. I have even cleaned out my email box to make room; however, if for some reason you get a bounce-back please post a comment to this post to bring it to my attention.

And of course, I encourage you to visit this week's Carnival of the Infosciences #48 hosted by the lovely Connecting Librarian , Michelle McLean from Melbourne.

Cheers!
Connie Crosby from Canada

Michael Geist - The Canadian Long Tail

For anyone who has been following the development of the recent concept the Long Tail originated by Chris Anderson, Michael Geist's article The Canadian Long Tail is a must-read!

NEXGENLIB e-mail discussion group moves

For anyone looking for the NEXGENLIB (Next Generation Librarians) email discussion group, it has now largely moved from Topica to Google Groups, at the following address:

Google Groups: NEXGENLIB

There was some unfortunate personal conflict on the original list and, since the earlier list owners were not available to close down the debate, the new group was created with new moderators to help keep things running smoothly. The original owners did later state they had invited someone to take over ownership/moderation previously, but did not have any takers. The Topica list is set for closure on August 15, 2006.

LibVibe: New Library Headline News Podcast

This notice was posted to the Bibliocasting email list:

I'm pleased to announce the debut of a new podcast:

LibVibe
http://LibVibe.com/
(also http://libvibe.blogspot.com/)

Each edition, approximately five minutes long, will feature a review of library news headlines in an upbeat, professionally-produced format.

As a reference librarian, podcaster and former broadcast radio personality, I've been watching this niche since the advent of podcasting and saw a need. I love libraries and this great new medium and am happy to jump in an do it. This is something that could never happen for us in traditional electronic media.

Please feel free to email me at the address below if you have any questions!

Sincerely,
Marv K.
LibVibe@gmail.com

I had a listen and it is very cool. It is like listening to the radio news, but it is all library-related topics.

LawLibTech: Status Report on RSS Use Among Legal Publishers

Cindy Chick at LawLibTech has created a status report RSS Feeds for Current Awareness over at LawLibTech. Link courtesy of Bonnie Shucha on WisBlawg - From the UW Law Library. I have stolen Bonnie's posting title. Ahem. 8-)

Library Boy: Peacekeeping Resources

Library Boy a.k.a. Michel-Adrien Sheppard has compiled an excellent list of resources on peacekeeping in this blog post: Peacekeeping Resources. Some are available electronically, while for others he gives paper research direction. An excellent starting point if you are doing research in this area.

TALL Site Visit of LexisNexis Canada - Input Needed

The Publishers Liaison Committee (PLC) of the Toronto Association of Law Libraries (TALL) is planning a site visit of LexisNexis Canada in early fall. If you work in a Canadian law library, they are looking for your input! Messages were sent out to both TALL and CALL/ACBD (Canadian Association of Law Libraries) members inviting questions, comments and concerns. The PLC will be looking at all aspects of LexisNexis Canada operations, including both electronic and paper publications/resources.

I spoke today with Louise Hamel who is heading up the project; she tells me she has had little input to date. What a shame, since so many people like to grumble privately. Make a difference and speak up!

These publisher site visits are intended to foster good working relationships between law libraries and publishers, and to better represent the interests of TALL members. The internal operations of the publishers are viewed with the intention of better understanding by the library group. Questions and concerns are raised by the PLC; most are given to the publisher in advance so that any research necessary can be done and a comprehensive response can be given. Finally, a report is written for the membership and the wider law library community to explain any findings and any points of issue that need resolution.

I had the privilege of taking part in the PLC's first site visit, of CCH Canadian Ltd., a number of years ago. The team who made the visit learned a lot about the organization (a lot of it some very positive things) and managed to find resolution to a number of issues. A nice outcome has been the very close working relationship CCH has built with the Canadian law library community, seeking feedback and advice as they evolve products and launch new business schemes. Since that time one other site visit has taken place: Carswell (now Thomson Carswell).

I am delighted that LexisNexis will be having their turn, as I know they have been waiting quite a while to be the focus of TALL's attention. I encourage you to submit your comments to Louise or other TALL PLC rep. If you don't know how to get in touch with one of them, feel free to contact me connieblog@sympatico.ca .

I've given them my comments. Have you??

Emily of the State - Internet Spying Short

YouTube - Emily of the State - Internet Spying Short

Must see! A great Canadian parody. Link courtesy of Michael Geist.

ALIA - blogs the conf

Members of ALIA, the Australian Library and Information Association, are organizing an unofficial blog for their September conference, named appropriately enough, blog the conf. I've been reading along and have added some comments telling them what we've done here in Canada for CALL and AALL.

I note on the conference programme that the Director of the Toronto Public Library, Josephine Bryant, is keynote speaker for day 1.

[Correction: this post has been reworded. I had a nice note from one of the bloggers involved indicating to me that this is not an official conference blog, that a number of them have decided to blog it unofficially as a group. Very cool! My apologies for misleading anyone. I have corrected the wording of this post. - Connie Crosby July 21 2006]

Weblogs - LISWiki

Wow. First off, I didn't realize there is a library and info sciences wiki, but there is-- LISwiki. Then I also didn't know anyone had tried to list all blogs by librarians, and finally I didn't know I was listed in this list. See: Weblogs - LISWiki.

Okay, so I'm really behind the times. 8-)

I encourage you to have a look around and perhaps even contribute some content, even if you don't personally have a blog. Great chance to try out a wiki!

Cheers,
Connie

Starbucks Introduces Text Messaging Trivia Game

Check out Starbucks Summer Pursuit. They bill this as

a fun text messaging trivia game and the first mobile phone game that can recognize a picture of the answer as well as text - the techies call it intelligent image recognition.

This is how it works:

Each week we will text you three summer themed clues and you can text or send a picture of your answer back to us. Rack up the answers and you'll be eligible for a chance to play the Ultimate Scavenger Hunt in NYC and compete for an amazing trip to Costa Rica!

Sounds pretty cool. I wonder if this technology might have any library application?? I might have to sign up just to see how it works....

Library Laws - AALL 2006 Coverage

Tom Boone has some terrific coverage of the AALL conference over at Library Laws, including some photos of the blogger meet-up. You get a good shot of my currently funky two-tone hair.

I haven't had a chance to decompress and post anything yet, so I appreciate his great coverage in the meantime! Tom is an up-and-coming law librarian blogger who I met at the conference. Definitely check out Library Laws.

AALL 2006 - Today's highlights

Still working from le pda, so this will be brief. Best of Monday:

- A public speaking session set up like a Toastmasters (TM) meeting, convincing us on the importance of improving our public speaking skills

- John Mayer and Jim Milles speaking on podcasting

- Blogger meetup which I've just left. I've finally met Matthew Homann, Dennis Kennedy, and Bonnie Shucha. I completely forgot to take photos, but hopefully Tom and Jim will make them available. (Sorry for the name dropping, but these people are celebs in my little world so it is exciting! Steve Matthews is probably cursing my name. Steve, I told everyone at the meeting to read your blog the Vancouver Law Librarian!!)

Throughout the last couple of days it has also been a thrill to have a few people tell me they are fans of Slaw, my column on LLRX, and/or my clips on Check This Out!

Some random thoughts:
- what about Toastmasters (TM) for podcasters / video bloggers?
- I should do an LLRX column on the ethics of blogging publicly for librarians in law firms.
- I'd like to explore ways for those who feel isolated to get support from the larger comminity. I think Canadians are good at these being generally spread out geographically.
- someone needs to write about research lawyers since it seems to be a Canadian phenomenon.

Well, that's it for now. I'm late for the West party!

Cheers,
Connie

[July 13, 2006: spelling corrected on names. - CC]

My First AALL Conference

I'm delighted to be in St.Louis for theAALL conference. Unfortunately there's no wireless web access in the conference centre or the hotel. Rather than hook up my laptop tonight I'm just posting this with my pda.

Thus far it has been much much larger than CALL, but I have seen a surprising number of familiar faces (not just Canadian) and I have met quite a few friendly people from all over.

It has been so busy that I'm going to pack it in now without any substantive comment. Jim Milles is recording a group of us in a wrap up chat each evening which will be posted over at Check This Out!

Rocky Times at Rocketboom

My very favourite video blog, Rocketboom, is going through some very rocky times. It looks like the two creators, Andrew Baron and Amanda Congdon, are parting ways and painfully at that. Amanda was the host, but Andrew has majority ownership, so it appears that Amanda will no longer be hosting unless they can get with a mediator and work things out. I am very conflicted as I quite like both of these people.

Something seemed a bit "off" the past couple of weeks. Notably, last week Andrew said they were on vacation and used material from their correspondents, but meanwhile in the comments Amanda stated she was not on vacation.

This week there is a notice posted on the site explaining the situation, presumably a professional spin from Andrew's point of view:

Amanda Congdon has decided to move to L.A. to pursue opportunities that have arisen for her in Hollywood.

We wanted to meet her demands to move production out to L.A., however, we are a small company and have not been able to figure out a way to make it work, financially and in many other ways at this time. While we continue to remain with open arms, Amanda has in fact quit and left Rocketboom. So sadly, we bid Amanda adieu and wish her all the best.

I wanted to get some more background on this, so visited both Andrew's and Amanda's blogs. Nothing new on Andrew's, but on Amanda's is a video episode in which she explains her side of the story. She tries to not look upset and explains (in more professional terms) that she was kicked off the show. I guess the notice on the Rocketboom site was posted after this, and now Amanda has a long response on her site including a letter from Andrew with her responses. She currently has it open to allow comments from fans.

I'm sad to see them airing this in public and feel it can only end badly for both. I do hope they can find a mediator who can help them work things out, although it may be too late to have the old Rocketboom back. This feels to me the end of a video podcasting era.

bonus tag: amanda unboomed

Metropolitan Who's Who - a Reprise

From the reader statistics on this blog, it appears a lot of people are hitting on the post Did You Receive an Invitation to Join?. This post regards invitations to be listed in the Metropolitan Executive and Professional Registry. It seems a new round of letters must have gone out. If you are looking for information about this company, I suggest you read my September 20, 2005 entry.

Sept. 30. 2006 - at this time comments for this post are closed. I thank everyone for your comments. I encourage you to start your own blog or chat forum on this subject if additional discussion is desired. - Connie

Knowledge Management as a Business Cliche or, Avoiding Best Practices

I'm currently reading a great little book--one of those that I can tell I will read again and again during my career, and see more truths as I learn more about the way things work in organizations. It is called McLuhan for Managers by Mark Federman and Derrick de Kerckhove. Federman and de Kerckhove have taken lessons learned from Marshall McLuhan and applied them to modern organizations as McLuhan might have.

A few highlights:

"In the mid-1990s, the concept of Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) was promoted by Michael Hammer and James Champy in their popular work, Re-engineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution. In it, they describe a method for redesigning the processes within a company by which it is run and managed. The authors advocate beginning with a 'blank sheet' in order to redesign the operations of the company from scratch, thereby increasing efficency and effectiveness, resulting in potential significant cost savings.

"Although not necessarily intended by Hammer and Champy, BPR was the justification by which senior management initiated massive rounds of layoffs under the banner of 'downsizing'."
(p. 43)

" It is interesting to note the reaction that the BPR management cliche caused when it was extended beyond anything that could be considered reasonable. The resulting loss of the collective experience and know-how directly led to the mirror-image management cliche known as Knowledge Management."
(p. 51)

--> a lightbulb goes off in my head at this point. Is this why KM has felt so familiar, it is just a repackaging of concepts already in existence, and not just in the library world? It is a challenge to separate the wheat from the chaff i.e. the useful concepts from the buzzwords. It is just a reaction to trying to capture all the lost knowledge from employees who were let go in the "downsizing" and the "rightsizing" of the 90s. Organizations must take care not to take this to the other extreme, obsessively following KM while ignoring real problems that exist in the organization. There is no point in pursuing KM unless there are components that will actually help achieve or resolve something specific within the organization. What one organization impliments successfully will not necessarily work for another organization.

"This predilection for rushing to deploy 'best practices' is perhaps one of the more potentially dangerous management cliches of recent years.

"A corporation faces with complex problems and market challenges seeks to remedy those problems quickly, so as not to fall further behind its peers. It looks at other companies in the same industry or field of endeavour and attempts to determine which of their management processes significantly contribute to their apparent success. Once identified, these processes, or rather, an abstraction of these processes, is adopted in the hope that their magical effect will attract analogous success to the challenged company.

"Of course, there is no magic -- no practice can be best for every company in any arbitrary situation. So how does the trick work? Successful companies, which those in trouble seek to emulate, generally possess the attribute of shared, insightful, original thinking among their managers and executives, and often through the ranks of their key employees. They identify challenges and carefully contemplate the particular circumstances and environment before the determining a course of action. Often, the first solution is not successful and the process repeats. Eventually, a way out of the mire is discovered and the company progresses.

"The resulting success attains almost mythic proportions, especially if the company is sufficiently prominent. In the retelling, the story is abridged and perhaps embellished for dramatic effect in a case study presented at a conference or in an article in the business press. It then enters the management concordance as an industry best practice."
(pages 51 and 52)

--> Of course, no two organizations are the same. One needs to look carefully at the circumstances surrounding the success and not just apply the solution to another organization without thought. As I said earlier, don't just do something 'cause the cool organizations are doing it.

All of this reading has made me wonder....who originated the concept of knowledge management, and who coined the phrase?

(McLuhan for Managers seems to be unavailable at Indigo. I was able to find it recently at local Toronto chain Book City)

Your Mother Was Right

"If all the other kids jumped off the bridge, would you do it too?"

Did your mother use this one on you as mine did on me? I've been thinking about this in terms of implementing new technologies or new management schemes into an organization. Just 'cause all the "cool kids" are implementing KM or RSS across the organization (as random examples), does that mean you have to as well?

Before we hoist any change upon others in our organizations, it behooves us managers to take a big step back and ask ourselves, "does this make sense for my organization?" Every organization is unique. Perhaps only parts of a planned change are appropriate. Or perhaps the change isn't necessary at all.

Part of the challenge is determining what is appropriate for YOUR organization. We can only really know what has happened in the past with our organizations. It is difficult to determine what is happening right now, and what will happen in the future that will make our determinations about the changes correct. And then when we make those changes, they will cause a change in the organization themselves.

So, all I'm saying is keep your eyes and ears open and don't just go setting up a blog 'cause it's what all the cool organizations are doing.

You've got to remember what your mother taught you and think for yourself!

Tame The Web: The People Formerly Known as the Audience

Some fantastic thoughts on addressing "user-centric content creation" in our libraries by Michael Stephens over at Tame the Web: Libraries and Technology: The People Formerly Known as the Audience.

An excerpt:

Let's involve users in creating content for the library and maybe even give them a venue and space to store stuff at the library server.

Let's incorporate video production as well -- for the library and for users to create their own stuff -- and be aware of the power of iTunes and YouTube to change the way content is ditributed.

Let's blog our stuff, with human voices, and write accordingly to pull in comments and conversation... this builds community.

Finally, this bit: Let's not wait too long...look at how quickly all of this came up on is..in a handful of years. we don't have time to convene teams that meet for months on end...

He is talking in the public library context, but definitely we should be thinking about this in terms of special or private libraries as well. And the key is nimbleness here. If we decide to wait on things for two years to see "how it works out" at the other organization, chances are something else will come along and things will change again.

With the caveat of my last post in mind (only make changes if they are appropriate for your organization), I say "go for it!".

LLRX.com - The Tao of Law Librarianship - The Truth About Blogging

I'm happy to report my latest column on LLRX.com, The Truth About Blogging was published a few days ago. I've veered away from the interview type article on this one, drawing from my own observations. I figure if it is labelled a "column" that I can editorialize a little rather than backing up all facts with a quote or reference.

Future columns I am considering are in the areas of change management (which I haven't yet addressed) and knowledge management (which I have). If you have other suggestions I'd love to hear them.

I had a request a while back to interview library directors in various organizations to find out how they got to where they are. I think that is a fabulous idea and am still working out how best to accomplish that. If you are library director who would like to be interviewed, or would like to suggest someone, do let me know. You can reach me at connieblog@sympatico.ca .

Thanks go to Sabrina Pacifici for editing and posting all the content in LLRX single-handedly, especially when she is always extremely busy! She is a pleasure to work with. I know she would love to receive some feedback, especially any positive vibes. And if you have a presentation, favourite blog post, or article you have written which you would like to submit, I encourage you to contact one of us.

Book Buying Moratorium For the Soul

I've had to put my foot down...with myself. No more book buying! That is, no buying books in case someone might want them. We are still trying to process everything that I ordered last November. I'm now limiting myself, with perhaps a few exceptions, to new editions and books requested by others in the firm. And loose leaf I am only purchasing in extreme cases since we are having a time keeping up with all those filings. Unfortunately I won't get that same "kick" I get when someone asks for something and we already have it, but so be it.

I felt kind of bad (well, maybe not really) when a publisher rep called me up today asking to drop by and have me order all the great new things coming out in the next quarter. I declined, saying I would just order things one at a time as we need them.

But, this seemed to be a good step towards getting my office and my workflow back into order. Instead of a 90 minute meeting in which I order things which will come and clog up my office in 3 weeks time (not to mention invoices), I now have 90 minutes towards clearing up some of this backlog.

It's a good thing. Right?

More Cartoons - welcome to libraryland

I generated a few more cartoons with the Strip Generator.

Here are the links:

Help! I need something about monkeys! Fast!

So a man walks into the library... [gak! just noticed the typo!]

Who called this meeting?

and the original:

Hi! Can I help you?


If you wish to print these out, I suggest landscape and small margins.

The strip generator does leave something to be desired. For example, once you start something you have to finish it. You can't go back to edit, so I can't fix my typo that I just noticed after several days. Also, there doesn't seem to be an easy way to copy the strips off the service and reuse them elsewhere. I could probably do a screen capture and then crop and save into Flickr or the like, but that doesn't seem quite adequate. Finally, I can't print them out without getting a lot of the additional admin sections of the screen. Okay, not to mention the whole site is in two languages at least and there are no instructions.

Now that I've given you all the "down" sides to it, I challenge you to give it a shot and see what fun it really is! I love looking at others' cartoons (most of which are violent unfortunately) but there is such a creativity there.

Day of Firsts: Podcast Recording and Comic Strip!

I'm very excited about my first recording (that I did myself!) which has been incorporated into this week's episode of Check This Out! I discuss the KM conference last week, giving a run down of the sessions and what I took away with me.


And here is my first comic strip from the strip generator. I called it "welcome to libraryland". It's not particularly funny but it was my first attempt. I encourage you to try your own and post the links here!!

One Step Closer to Podcasting

Usually when I participate in the Check This Out! podcast as "Canadian correspondent", Jim Milles calls me up using Skype (internet based phone call service or VOiP)and he records us from his end. We have also experimented with both of us speaking using Skype. This weekend Jim gave me the assignment of recording my bit on my end, and then emailing the MP3 file to him. He knew I already have an iRiver capable of recording, and even an external microphone, so the only thing left to do was read the manual and figure out how to record.

So, after playing with a few of the settings I believe I have managed it. I recorded 15 minutes (probaby too long!) which has made a 14 MB file. I've emailed it to him and hope it makes it to him.

The subject of my talk was the Ark Group KM conference I attended. Mostly it is a brief summary of the sessions, highlights of things I learned, and a wee bit of my own commentary. I hope it works out!

What next? It's only a matter of time before I get the video thing working....

Video in the Law Firm

This was something I originally wrote in an email to Jim Milles since I know he has started experimenting with video, and I decided to share it with everyone--

I must say, this past week a couple of things have got me even more jazzed about video. First was the brief interview Rocketboom did with Robert Scoble about his leaving Microsoft. He mentioned that their videotaping people around the office was pretty popular. Of course, a lightbulb went off in my head that that would be a terrific way of getting people to know one another in my office. Then at this KM conference some of the professional development people talked about capturing professional development sessions on video, and one person even suggested having experienced lawyers talk about discrete aspects of their work so associates can view the video before embarking on a certain aspect of work. An even further aspect would be a part of a "retrospective" after a project is completed, asking a client a number of questions on video as a wrap-up to the project. Then it could be "sliced and diced" down and re-edited to have various clients talking about one topic for internal review. So many possibilities... Now I am anxious to get a video camera and start playing!!

Webcom Toronto 2006

Webcom Toronto 2006 - November 7 - 9, 2006. Billed as an "International Conference on Interactive Communications and Information Technologies". It looks to be something Jane Dysart is working on. Not a lot of information on the site yet, but it is supposed to be conferences in 45 countries running concurrently and somehow linked. Cool.

Website redesign: Dysart & Jones Associates

I quite like the look of Dysart & Jones Associates newly updated website. Clean and uncluttered, but still fresh looking. I've always liked that they have the blog on their home page--continuous new content.

KM: Cultivating a Knowledge Sharing Culture

This week I attended the Ark conference on KM in Toronto. Yesterday I participated in a panel, along with Mary Saulig and Stephanie Grenier, on the role of librarians in KM. We had Joshua Fireman of ii3 moderate the session and we largely organized it as a conversation based on a few questions. I think it went quite well, and I was pleased with feedback I received throughout the rest of the conference.

This morning I live-blogged one session called Cultivating a Knowledge Sharing Culture on blog Slaw.

That is the last of my big professional commitments for a little while (well, until I attend AALL and make an appearance at the NE2007 reception being put on by ALLAGNY and ALLUNY). Hopefully my blogging will become a little more regular for the next while.

Cheers,
Connie

Internet Librarian International 2006

Hi everyone! It has been far too long since I have blogged anything. Life has gotten in the way!

Anyway, I just had a notice that the Internet Librarian International 2006 conference programme will be published this week. ILI2006 takes place in London October 16-17th.

From the notice:

This year's dual themes for Internet Librarian International - discovering new resources and demystifying new technology - reflect the concerns of information professionals worldwide.

Opening with a Keynote about the knowledge glut and how it affects librarians and information managers, this year’s Internet Librarian International concentrates on practical applications for internet technologies. Speakers explain how they implement new technologies, adopt Library 2.0 techniques, employ management skills, collaborate with colleagues and bring information to remote areas.

Through a range of panel discussions, master classes, formal speeches and networking opportunities, Internet Librarian International provides a unique educational opportunity for all those who need to find new resources and understand new technology.

This conference, and the Internet Librarian conference held in Monterey, always sound fabulous. I can't wait to see the full programme. Reading programmes for me is a bit like reading cookbooks. I may not actually cook something up, but it is certainly fun to dream...

MaRS

MaRS, originally uploaded by ConnieC.

If it wasn't for the sign, I would have thought I was in the wrong place.

Tag: mesh06

How to Engage the Blogosphere

How to Engage the Blogosphere, originally uploaded by ConnieC.

May 16, 2006

From left to right:
David Carter
Sarah Spence
Nathan Rudyk

Note the live IRC chat being shown on the screen above their heads! Risky Web 2.0 behaviour indeed.

Tag: mesh06

Traditional media covering Mesh

Traditional media covering Mesh, originally uploaded by ConnieC.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006 at the beginning of the Corporate Blogs session.

Did anyone see TV coverage of Mesh??

Tag: mesh06

Corporate Blogs - How and Why

Corporate Blogs - How and Why, originally uploaded by ConnieC.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

From left to right:
Jeremy Wright
Tara Hunt
Debbie Weil

Tag: mesh06

Building a Brand Online

Building a Brand Online, originally uploaded by ConnieC.

May 16, 2006

Left to right:
Jonathan Ehrlich, Bruce Philip, Jim Coudal, and moderator Stuart MacDonald.

Tag: mesh06

Building a Brand Online

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Moderator: Stuart MacDonald (SM)

Panelists:

Jonathan Ehrlich(JE), senior vice-president of Chapters Online
Bruce Philp (BP), president and managing partner of GWP Brandengineering
Jim Coudal (JC), Coudal Partners


JE: the business models today are worse because anyone with a credit card can start a business. Segments are emerging into each other.

Consumers feel they have a right to say something and say it loud. Marketers can no longer gloss over problems with a product; they are now forced to spend money on delivering a great experience.

SM: Are we creating a great experience?

JC: People are creating a market and companies without accessing the mass market. We will see more of that.

SM: “Follow the money” – originally he did mostly traditional placement for Expedia, and a little to web advertising; by the time he left, most of his marketing budget was going to paid search ads.

SM: What happened to having a great campaign and running it for two years?

BP: a lot of his industry is doing 30 second video. If people laugh at the video then it is considered to be influential.

JE: the tools available to them for managing the money is much greater. From a marketing perspective it is great, but reaching customers is tougher.

SM: We are standing at the end of something or the beginning of something, depending on how you look at it. Can’t we just do this for free? Can’t we just connect directly with some woman in MySpace? Where is this headed? Marketers still have a job to do building a brand.

JC: I don’t know how you take a multi-million dollar brand and translate that into a consumer marketing campaign. When something works they do more of it, and when it doesn’t they do less of it. They are coming closer to having to develop a better product. If you create a product and branding together, there is a lot of possibility.

JE: It is all about investing in the experience. If you aren’t delivering on the experience, you are dead.

BP: a brand is a cultural phenomenon that allows you to charge more for something; that is disappearing.

JE: No, brands stand out in the environment.

BP: The whole model has been democratic. The underlying assumption has been that if you hear me over and over and over again in exchange for watching Ed Sullivan, you will buy my product. Television programming being on TV has been a democratic process.

Rob Hyndman: Thus far marketing has been one-way, marketers talking to the audience. What happens when the audience can talk back? What happens to the model?

BP: Example: Tylenol fiasco when there was tampering with the bottles and people died. It was handled well with a PR puppet – you liked the fellow who spoke and trusted him. Ten years later the brand is stronger than ever.

SM: Bullshit can be called faster with a brand. People will say you are right or you are wrong.

BP: A brand was never created in a boardroom. It is an election campaign that never ends.

JC: Some of the messages have started coming from underneath. The ads his company writes are conversational. Tylonel incident is like the first blog entry.

Audience question: Everyone is saying it is a conversation, but no one is saying what to do with this. Doesn’t it make sense to find those who love your brand and turn them into bloggers?

JE: People participating on the web have overarching influence on where things go, how things are done.

SM: This conference is an example – came up with what they thought was a consumer insight; they asked on their blog what people would like to see and listened to them. Don’t underestimate the value of just asking.

JC: Coudal Partners do a lot of things that don’t seem to have a purpose – movies, contests, etc. They have created products they want e.g. jewelboxing shows such as Dead Can Dance tour; the people who go to the shows want to see the same thing. How do you do this for a big consumer brand?

Audience question: You can’t talk about iPod branding without talking about their advertising campaign. YouTube – ugly website, quality of video is bad. Google is a search box with a button to click. These things have nothing to brand.

BP: Stop thinking like a marketer. Marketers are frequently wrong about this stuff. Apple brand has, from the beginning, been an advocate for its customers. They have stood for computers serving people, not people serving computers.

JE: Search was dead until Google came along. Brand is a collection of experiences; brand is not just what something looks like. The experience that everyone had when they first used Google was positive. They started with a great experience.

JC: You would think Google Video would outstrip YouTube, but uploading video with YouTube a lot easier.

Audience question: How do you engage the blogosphere?

JC: Coudal does monitor the blogosphere. Jewelboxing brand has a blog detailing how they built the business including what went wrong. Maybe the concept shouldn’t be whether our business should have a blog, but whether a blog should have a business. Build your audience first and then find what business they would like to see.

Blogging is just all about writing. This is nothing new.

SM: One of the first serious applications of consumers taking part has been TripAdvisor – the first and biggest application of what people like me think about stuff – it is a referral model.

Audience comment: Everyone defines quality different. YouTube video quality is not necessarily important.

Audience question: If we are move from mass to micro communication model, don’t we need the data to know how to target the message. How do we use the analytics?

SM: Marketing is no longer about putting something into an email box. It is all about the data.

BP: It is not just about data; it is about imagination, or we all wouldn’t be here. Segmentations may or may not be the way to determine value and how to spend my money.

JC: JE, do you target wildly different people on your website?

JE: we are just getting started on the personalization front. It is all about data. Amazon has figured out how to do this. Looking at their customers' data and their book buying habits.

JC: Personalizing can be dangerous. For example, see the blog post: “My TiVo thinks I’m gay.” [Connie's note: I believe he is referring to the classic Jeffrey Zaslow article in "The Wall Street Journal" from December 2002, "Oh No! My TiVo Thinks I'm Gay." Subscription probably needed.]

SM: Don’t get too caught up if you aren’t crunching the data mining because nobody is.

JE: Privacy and personal issues around things. If someone put something into a cart and then decides against buying the item, do they have the right to send them a coupon to encourage them to buy it.

Audience question: Unleash the blogger within. What about engineers, internal people who love the brand and are blogging about it?

BP: His organization does a tremendous amount of internal marketing before selling it to the consumers. To do this it has to be a mission-driven organization.

Audience question: I hear more fear than anticipation. Is it because big companies are represented on the panel? In terms of the brand and the whole brand experience, will the brand be created by the consumer, and the consumer decides whether the brand stands?

BP: How does this differ from the past? The strongest brands are benevolent dictatorships.

Tag: mesh06

Building a Community

Building a Community, originally uploaded by ConnieC.

Tara Hunt takes the audience on a whirl wind Web 2.0 tour.

Tag: mesh06

Building a Community

Keynote Conversation: Building a Community

Tara “Miss Rogue” Hunt,
- Online marketing director, Riya.com
- blogger HorsePigCow

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

An interactive session, involving audience participation.

Who here have blogs? Who have multiple blogs?

Photos
- Flickr
- Riya.com
- Bubbleshare

Videos
- YouTube
People are becoming disenfranchised and want more. They want to find community.

- The Consumerist – how to sue an airline

People recognize marketing lies. There are too many unsatisfactory choices with products.

DRM locks people into their choices. Loosing your choice isn’t good either.

There are too many messages – there are ads everywhere. Who uses FireFox? You can get rid of the pop-ups and other ads.

The end consumer revolution has been around forever, but something has changed.

Threadless – T-shirt designs and people vote for them

Citizen media – what does it mean for the future. Bowiechick - video of girl using new Logitech camera potential. 250,000 downloads. What does this mean for marketing in the future? What is the potential??
- is this advertising? We don’t know
- we are finding a distrust of anything that is broadcast
- the video has been passed around MySpace only because it was a kid, not an expert
- what about a hybrid model, where they take this girl and put her video in an ad?

The wisdom of crowds – when you become an expert you stop learning.

Pinko marketing manifesto:

Pinko marketing wiki:
- marketing in the post-Cluetrain era.

Pinko principle #1
- inbound, rather than outbound messages – creating the tools for people to voice how they use a product; we can start using money used for outbound messages to instead make the product better

Pinko principle #2
- be a community advocate – go with the direction of people; take the voice of the community and fight for your community back to your company

Pinko principle #3
- 100% authenticity – stop using the word “viral”. Creating viral is not authentic. It is not about creating connections; viral created by companies is damaging to client relations e.g. Chevvy Tahoe ad – they let everything run, including the bad [Connie's note: see Rocketboom]

Pinko principle #4
… [missed it]
- don’t ignore part of your market e.g. 90% of people who work with photos use Macs. Need to have Mac capability if you want to appeal to this market.

Pinko principle #5
… [missed it]

New-style medial hype: Snakes on a Plane [Snakes on a Blog.com]

How do you market to a community? You have to be part of the community.

How do you earn the reputation with little time? You cannot just drop things in and expect them to work. You have to take part and be a human like anyone else. You have to build a reputation and rapport.

Tag: mesh06

Thanks to the sponsors

Thanks to the sponsors, originally uploaded by ConnieC.

Tag: Mesh06

Venture Capital and Web 2.0

Keynote Conversation: Venture Capital and Web 2.0

Matthew Ingram talks with venture capitalist and blogger Dr. Paul KedroskyTuesday, May 16, 2006

A lot of talk of Web 2.0. There is a lot of money floating around. There is a lot of uncertainty.

Maxthon - overlay over Internet Explorer

Venture capital is concentrated in what is perceived as the best companies. It is, however, a rigged market. The reason why the best funds look successful is because they are fishing in the best pond: they are surrounded by the best projects. The rest of us don’t have such good opportunities for investment.

Alternative assets = Venture capital

MI: If you can finance a Web 2.0 on your credit card, do you need the giant sums of money people are trying to hand out?

If you can avoid venture capital, do so. If you can build a company that doesn’t require capital and you can own 100% stock, you can exit at the full value of the company instead of worry about what the venture capitalists will take.

A lot of the consumer-based Web 2.0 companies can be created very cheaply. The democratization of entrepreneurship – it comes with a corollary: there is no longer a barrier to entry, you will have 30 competitors pop up. “Every monkey with a credit card is in the market.”

MI: Can you build a great big thing and then create a business model later?

Sure. Google is an excellent example. He has seen companies that had no idea what the business model was; some borrow business models from other successful companies. The precedent is well set. You may get a lot of venture capital money and stumble into a business model; however, to do this you better be on a very big scale.

Community building model that is hugely successful – e.g. grassroots dating at
Plentyoffish.com - if you keep the cost down and find like-minded community, you can be very successful.

MI: Is there a seed financing gap in Canada?

Everyone in the world thinks they have a seed financing gap, even in Silicon Valley. In Canada in particular, the level of wealth per capita, the level is low enough that you don’t have individuals that go out investing. The economics of see investing doesn’t work. You can’t keep track of your investments, you can’t sleep at night, you better have been invested in Skype.

VC helps companies attract talent.

If you invest too early, you are a seed investor. If you wait too long, you will be competing with big mezzanine investors.

Chicken and egg problem in Canada: we need more successful exits in populated areas to encourage people to create bigger and better companies. In Silicon Valley if you aren’t making 7 figures for your company you have to go out and build one because the guy down the street has.

There are Canadian venture guys. There is an appetite for investing in interesting things. Think creatively in how you approach people and how you structure thing, especially amongst the institutional investment community.

Tag: mesh06

mush

mush - Wed. May 17 Mesh conference wrap up / drinkin' party. The website is a great parody of the main Mesh conference site.

Too funny!

Gary King - high school student speaks at Mesh

King Gary - high school student spoke at "15 Minutes of Fame" session at the Mesh conference about passion for Web 2.0, and how the web can empower an individual.

- you need to be flexible and keep things simple
- today's web empowers people, gives them a voice with a blog
- today's collaboration allows anyone participate with Web 2.0
- his generation is becoming increasingly influential with Web 2.0
- teenagers more willing to experience websites and web-based applications; they have more time
- you have to target this age group if you want your website to have maximum exposure
- now important to change our perspective
- important for adults and teenagers to be invited to participate in the creation of the web

Great talk, Gary!! Thanks for bringing another perspective to Mesh.

Tag: Mesh06

Favorville : People Helping People

Favorville : People Helping People

Ask for a favour or give a favour. Drill down by city and community. Helping to build communities.

The Future of Marketing

The Future of Marketing, originally uploaded by ConnieC.

May 16, 2006

Stuart MacDonald interviews Steve Rubel.

Tag: mesh06

The Future of Marketing

Keynote Conversation: The Future of Marketing

Stuart MacDonald talks with Steve Rubel of Edelman and Micropersuasion.com

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Intro: Blog Micropersuasion is ranked 69th on Technorati. Steve is recognized as a thought leader of global media.

What is “Micropersuasion”? – we’ve talked for years about mass persuasion; however, one voice is just as essential.

Everyone blogs for different reasons. To use this medium for marketing, you have to understand why they are blogging. You have to understand the medium. It is about befriending the community. The new model is to give something to the community, and they will create some buzz.

Blogging is just one piece of the pie. Consumers are going to talk to each other and trust each other. A study shows we trust our peer most. Smart to build tools for people to find each other.

Clients and agencies are facing a host of challenges.

SM: What is working?

A lot of money is going to TV advertising, but a lot of it is changing. Word of mouth is working; PR is working. Online is the “great white underbelly” of marketing, where a lot of dollars are going. Marketing and PR are not dying; they are just being spread out.

SM: With the blogosphere, how do you deal with issue management. Small issues spin off into great big issues.

There is a lot of fear of this. It is not just horror stories; there are also success stories. Clients need to see cases.

SM: How do you know who is credible?

The community will tell us who is credible and who is not. Not just the big blogs, but all blogs. The minute he would write something consistently false, traffic would go elsewhere.

SM: It is a red herring; there are millions of blogs and who should I be talking to and who should I read?

It is not a numbers game. The biggest blogs are not necessarily the most credible. Some of the blogs with a more narrow readership are more deeply engaged with those people. You need to find which ones fit in best with your industry, your market.

He has seen some companies set up money for community marketing. Eg. Marketing dept. at Lego knows the hundred top on-line Lego evangelists.

Your ranking will depend on number of links coming into your site. Bloggers can have a big influence on this, can bring in a lot of traffic.

SM: What needs to happen in this agency / client world to wake people up to realize there are hundreds of thousands of people engaging in this way?

They are starting to wake up. They just have to decide whether they want to invest in it. Companies have to get it into their heads that narrow is good/ niche is good.

SM: This is still very early days. The Wal-mart situation was telling.

Recap: he runs a war room out of DC for Wal-mart. They have identified the most avid pro- and con-Wal-mart bloggers. They were keeping the bloggers in the loop with daily email. They found the bloggers were just cutting and pasting the message without attributing it to Wal-mart.

If there is a certain amount of buzz around something it is picked up in the press such as the New York Times immediately.

SM: MySpace doesn’t seem to register yet. What is happening with MySpace?

MySpace is just one piece of social software puzzle. It could be Flickr or YouTube. You have to look where people are hanging out and market there. Whatever you do with social community, you have to do things on the term of the community. Otherwise you could get laughed at and booted out of the community. You need to fund something of importance to that community.

Strumpet.com – a pool running to see how long Steve will last in his position at Edelman. He recognizes as a blogger that he lives in the public. With that, you have to take your lumps. The lesson for marketers is that, if you are going to engage the community, you’ve got to take the good with the bad.

Secondlife – a simulation game where you live your life. It came out of nowhere. The potential is terrific providing you can find an acceptable way to the community to engage. Eg. Some companies are buying up islands or stores. It will be right for some markets and not others.

Do bloggers need to learn new skills? No – they do what they do, they live their lives. Cannot be expected to learn a whole new skill set.
Whenever bloggers are taken and given a more elevated role, generally they will be a little more careful when they are blogging on behalf of an organization. They do still have to be real. You encourage them to be authentic, to give the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The ROI is never going to pay out. How do you convince clients to take the plunge? Ten years ago we talked about Internet advertising, we had the same issue. The metrics have to come in. He would measure conversations, engagement with the community. He suggests subsidizing things for the market.

How do you represent the masses when it is the educated tech elite doing the talking? Are you worried about engaging only a subset of the market? It is not an either/or situation. You still fund the traditional mediums.

Pay for play goes on in the “real” editorial world. There will be those incidents in the blogosphere. What do you think if it becomes prominent in the blogosphere? He recommends not going that way; it would become a polluted environment. Eg. Writing positively about a product for pay. Unless the rest of the world overnight changes, recommends not doing this.

Community ROI – if you can create passionate users, you get huge ROI. Comment on the techniques being used today? How many times was a conversation created with an influential person, and what kind of echo effect did that have? MSN, Google and Yahoo! – look at ranking. It will come back to whether people bought more products.

Is ROI baked into requirements by clients? Definitely. It may also exist in a way not invented yet.

Who has done it the worst? Anyone who has created a fake blog, or a character blog e.g. Captain Morgan ran for U.S. president. They are great for ad campaigns, but not for blogging. Put the real people in the blogs.

Getting people unrelated to a product blogging about it? He has not tried it, but it may be a way of widening the market, bridge to a higher audience providing it fits under the umbrella of the issues you are involved with.

Tag: Mesh06

Will the Web Make Us Free

Will the Web Make Us Free, originally uploaded by ConnieC.

May 15, 2006

Fuzzy photo of moderator and Mesh founder Rob Hyndman introducing session. George Schlukbier of the U.S. Library of Congress to his left.

Unfortunately my battery ran out before I could get a better shot of the whole panel.

Tag: mesh06

Will the Web Make Us Free?

May 15, 2006

Moderator: Rob Hyndman

Panel: Ren Bucholz, Electronic Frontier Foundation
George Schlukbier, U.S. Library of Congress
Bob Young, Lulu.com

RH Question to George Schlukbier: What is the proper role of libraries now; what are libraries doing to adapt to this new reality; what is the future of libraries?

GS: Libraries have always been around in the digital age:
- digitization programs
- XML standards
- What are the formats for the 100 year archives? What are we going to keep, and who is going to keep it?
- Hopes we preserve more of the ‘Net than we currently have
- A lot of the issues will be addressed by the libraries

RH: Who is deciding this?
- a number of federal government agencies
- NARA gave a big grant for digitization preservation project

RH: libraries can be thought of where all the servers are kept. Are we not all creating libraries; are we not all content creators?

Bob Young: a lot of people are creating content that is being lost; a lot of this content deserves to get lost. How does the library differentiate what should be kept?

GS: That is part of what the libraries do, how the collection is focused. No one has put out a scope of what should be collected; for example, everything from the last election.

BY: whatever is popular is what they save at Lulu.com. They are trying to create a marketplace of content.

RH: How do you save what is worth saving?

BY: What authors need more at the beginning is distribution rather than protection or no one will be reading. Most authors need more distribution, not less. The moment you wrap DRM around a work, you are going to have less distribution. Once someone shows them authors and readers value DRM, then they will use it.

RH: Different shades of grey, or is DRM dead on arrival?

Ren Bucholz: For vast majority of authors, threat isn’t piracy but distribution. Late 1990s, early 2000s – Napster was more than a punchline; it was a Library of Alexandria of all the world’s music housed on individual computers – quite incredible looking at it without the hype. It made EFF sit up and take notice. The idea is not to shut it down but how to monetize the concept.

BY: We worry about DRM, privacy, and being shut down. What if, in the days of Napster, the music publishers had a powerful DRM and, if you were willing to pay, This helped more hear the music, and more people went out to the concerts as a result. The citizen and the consumer are the same person; why do we need the legislators tell us what we need?

RB: publishers trying to control rights they don’t actually have with regard to viewers and copyright holders.

See http://www.eff.org/share - mechanism for sharing

GS: When conceiving of the 100 year archive, they want a path to go back.

Looking for a tagging system so that people can tell them when it is the best thing they are doing and is worth keeping. Why isn’t the entertainment industry helping to pay for preserving their films and the like, and leaving it to government funding to do this?

RH: Open Content Alliance versus Google database

GS: Best thing that happened for libraries was Google’s announcement and the Open Content Alliance - suddenly this material is seen as having worth and being important.

Tag: Mesh06

Afternoon coffee break at Mesh

Afternoon coffee break 1, originally uploaded by ConnieC.

Tag: Mesh06

The Future of Broadcasting

The Future of Broadcasting, originally uploaded by ConnieC.

From left to right:

Barnaby Marshall (moderator);
Jian Ghomeshi, CBC broadcaster;
Andrew Baron, co-founder of video blog Rocketboom;
Amber MacArthur, podcaster and G4TechTV broadcaster

Tag: Mesh06

The Future of Broadcasting

Moderator: Barnaby Marshall

Panelists: Jian Ghomeshi, Andrew Baron, Amber MacArthur

Is our use of technology deep and long lasting, or fleet and shallow?


Jian Ghomeshi:

Examples of broadcasters/news media buying diversity:
 Newscorp buying MySpace
 NY Times first time online has exceeded paper format – they have done an excellent job of diversifying so have nothing to worry about – paper format may be dying, but NYT won’t die.

If it is the end of the platform, it is not the end of the major players

Andrew Baron

With iPod and iTunes – Apple is setting the standards and has created their own gate keeping scenario but everyone has access.

Rocketboom as an example – the only way previously to promote their show, they would have had to use a traditional distributor, but access would not have been available to them. Now distribution is available to everyone and the “long tail” can thrive. There is an increasingly level playing field. Bands can make an album that would have cost $1 million now can be made for $1,000.

Rocketboom got rid of the middlemen and have worked directly with the advertisers. They have a page laying out the “worth” of ads. Costs them $25 per episode, but the advertising worth is three times the worth of a television show.

Rb available on TiVo – collaboration – can see collaboration continuing on all levels; don’t have to mass market to the lowest common denominator any more.

This is the perfect medium for the guy who has psychological problems who cannot socialize but who can put together a program in his basement.

Amber MacArthur

New TV show called Torrent – featuring the best video podcasts from people around the world so a challenge to straddle both worlds and show old media how new media works. Reach: traditional TV cannot compete with video podcasts that have “eyeballs” from around the world. The power of the internet can get your voice out to as many people as possible.

Broadcasters are going to have to start paying attention to this new medium or they are going to be left behind.

Things like YouTube are a better way to share content. If you push people off-line, they are going to go elsewhere for their content.

Jian Ghomeshi

Pandora project
– most of his work has been to promote new media
– where people can get excited about new technology
– pay user fees and don’t have to watch ads

End of broadcasting
- CBC has been supportive of podcasting
- Yahoo Music model was set up to replace radio, not unlike Pandora
- Renting versus owning – people like to have a jewel case sitting on a shelf

The ability to be heard, to get the message out, if you are a band that is not widely prominent has profoundly changed

Andrew Baron

Previously the TV Guide was seen as the future entry point; now everyone is scrambling to create the ideal entry point. Now it is becoming like Google where you look for and “pull” the programming.

Jian Ghomeshi

We still need the best writers, producers, videographers. “The cream of the crop will rise to the top.”

Amber MacArthur

A lot of people can do it, but a lot people cannot do it well. The best will rise to the top. Competition is a healthy, positive thing.

Andrew Baron

People only have so much time to watch. Audience will be spread out.

Two revenue-generating models:
- advertising
- subscription

Jian Ghomeshi

Q: Will traditional media die?
A: Most noticeable affect is with the newspapers, then commercial radio (not talk or public radio) – may not be able to sustain themselves in the next 20 or 30 years.

Amber MacArthur

Print is easiest to do on line; video is difficult to do online and do well.

Tag: Mesh06

Mesh Conference 2006 - Introductory talk

Mesh Conference 2006 - Introductory talk, originally uploaded by ConnieC.

Toronto May 15, 2006.

Tag: Mesh06

Mesh welcome

Mesh welcome, originally uploaded by ConnieC.

Mesh conference on Web 2.0 in Toronto May 15, 2006- the audience waits for the opening remarks.

Tag: Mesh06

Michael Geist interviewed by Rob Hyndman

Michael Geist interviewed by Rob Hyndman, originally uploaded by ConnieC.

Mesh conference on Web 2.0 issues in Toronto May 15, 2006.

Tag: Mesh06

Rob Hyndman Conversation with Michael Geist

**Raw notes** links have yet to be added!

Mesh Conference 2006

Rob Hyndman conversation with Michael Geist

May 15, 2006

Dr. Michael Geist – introduction by Rob Hyndman

– a leading international thinker on IP and law
- critic of US copyright law
- looking for made-in-Canada solution
- law professor at University of Ottawa
- nationally syndicated columnist in Toronto Star and Ottawa Citizen
- widely read blog

Introductory talk by Michael Geist

Sam Bulte – Liberal candidate in last Federal election brought down by bloggers reporting on her association with copyright stakeholders? Word spread after Michael Geist put this into context on his blog.

- Sorry Everybody
- Apologies Accepted
- Fanfiction.net – script writing
- Find it Rip it Mix it Share it Come and Get it – Creative Archive * Group
- Backstage.bbc.co.uk


Flickr
Creative Commons
Soundclick
Internet Archives
Google Scholar
Google Book Search
SourceForge.net – 1.2 registered users

Print media- huge growth for those who increase online content

Book market – “What is more long tail than Canadian content?” – go to a Barnes & Noble in the U.S. and try to find Canadian content other than Margaret Atwood

Irwin Law – In the Public Interest – read free online, covered with Creative Commons license

CBS Netcast – freely postcasting shows online

YouTube – growth of the clip culture

Video gaming market – TV-like numbers – companies setting up in Canada because of strength of programming community.

Cineclix
BitTorrent – Warner Bros. struck a deal to distribute movies online

Radio – CBC podcasting “best of” – can’t afford the bandwidth to put all their shows up

Kyouradio.com

Music – struggling – competition, retail channel changes, pricing points down
- 90% Cdn music produced by indies
- Puretracks- [can’t be used by Mac users]
- Canadian Music Creators Coalition - http://www.musiccreators.ca/
- Jane Siberry – own pricing model

What’s the policy?

How do we encourage this kind of activity?

Conversation with Rob Hyndman

Bill 60 Copyright died on the Order Paper; new legislation is expected to be introduced this fall; expects it to be more U.S.-style legislation.

The current protection tools currently don’t work. This legislation has an impact with free speech and scientific research.

iTunes phenomenon – they were able to negotiate content protection deals with the distributors – only did this once Napster made them realize how people wanted music delivered, and they were going to download whether they paid or not.

Why more content on U.S. iTunes than Canadian? Where is the French content? Economic parity – Apple starts with the larger players; some of the larger players have held out e.g. Sony dragging its feet, unwilling to move into the market place. It is more about protecting their devices in competition with iPod rather than protecting their music.

Effort to rollback DRM – are there signs there is flexibility in this area?
Users already have control over the content; some changes are taking place. Countries are now realizing that policies put into place in mid-90s do not cover current situations, current technology.

We are clearly seeing a move to collaborative content production. What does this tell us about the ideal copyright policy?
We do need copyright; it plays an important role. Most of the legislation controls are not about copyright or the artist; they are about trying to control markets. Nigeria – number one movie industry; people are making own movies and selling them on the streets without copyright coverage.

Do we need copyright policy in Canada?
Starting point really is: “do no harm” but we have to realistically realize in politics people do not want to be seen as doing nothing.

What is the current political reality and what are the reasons for it?
25 years of lobbying; musicians speaking out (Canadian Music Creators Coalition) was a breath of fresh air but it is hard to undo 25 years of lobbying. The politicians did stand up and take notice, and met with this group. CMCC is breaking away from CRRA (Canadian Retransmission Right Association).

What is your feeling about the severity of the times?
Net neutrality is a big issue, especially in the U.S.; there is an issue about whether certain levels of the internet should be at a cost. Some have the ability to block access to certain websites e.g. blocking a union from accessing a website that supports it, or blocking a whole city from seeing a website. We have examples in Canada of discrimination blocking people from seeing certain types of websites. There is a need for clear net neutrality legislation. The end users want to know they can access content without being blocked by Rogers, Telus, etc.

Three years for now, will political parties have missed the boat? What will the political landscape look like?
After the last election, the Bulte issue raised some interest. What is the number of letters you need for something to get noticed? You need only two letters from within your riding to get noticed by your Member of Parliament.

Our policies that are premised around the need for incentives to get people to create are faulty. Many people coding for Open Source without any incentive, for example.

Tag: Mesh06

Mesh Conference 2006

Howdy! I've barely recovered from the CALL conference and today I am at the first ever Mesh Conference in Toronto. It is a Web 2.0 conference. A few faces familiar to me are here: Jim Milles, Jane Dysart, and Rob Hyndman (one of the founders of Mesh).

Finally, a conference with power in the floor and free wireless! I am posting this during the third session, and I will try to add content as I can. Kind of ironic since I haven't posted much from the CALL conference yet. But, we do what we can.

Enjoy!
Connie

Tag: Mesh06

Check out CALL Blog 2006

If you are wondering what I'm up to, I'm now in Edmonton gearing up for the CALL conference. Some of my comings and goings are being recorded over at the CALL Blog 2006.

Cheers,
Connie

On the Road to Edmonton

Well, I worked flat out last week until I had to catch my flight. You should see all the dockets I input, and how surprised my book club was when I pulled out invoices for me to sign during our meeting earlier in the week. That's just over the top, isn't it?

I still have urgent loose ends nagging at me before I can truly relax on this pre-conference vacation, not the least of which is finishing up slides for my panel presentation this coming Saturday.

Currently I am "on vacation" in Calgary. I'm certainly decompressing! I've slept at least 22 hours in the last two days.

You probably won't hear from me on this blog in the next several days. After Calgary I will be going to Edmonton for the CALL conference. I will, however, be contributing to the CALL 2006 conference blog.

This week on Slaw - Copyright Week

This week on Slaw we are exploring our first weeklong theme: Copyright. Special guest bloggers David Vaver, Professor of intellectual property and information technology law, University of Oxford, and director of the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre, St Peter's College, and Michael Geist, who holds the Canada Research Chair of Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, have joined us to explore and discuss the issues.

My scheduled day to post to Slaw is Friday, and I have something interesting in the works--I hope it comes to fruition. I may do some additional blogging as well if I get inspired.

I encourage you to have a look at Slaw and add your voice to the discussion by posting your questions, comments and concerns.

What I've been up to

Well, no time today to mention everything I've been up to. Suffice it to say I have been out meeting and talking to a lot of different people with a variety of interests, and I'm hoping to blog about it soon. (I keep saying that to myself: get this one event over with and you can blog about EVERYTHING!). Oh, the pressure!

Anyway, I don't even have the energy at this particular moment to even list everything, but I am excited about my latest article on LLRX which I see has just been released.

In this episode, Librarian on the Verge of KM, I talk about a wide range of knowledge management issues I have been contemplating, not the least of which is the idea that I even actually do KM. I am forced to admit to my inner knowledge manager. I did not conduct any interviews this time around since it was mostly a "download" of all my thoughts at the time I was writing, but I did quote my colleague out in Vancouver, Steve Matthews. And I don't think he knows it yet.

The other exciting thing I should mention is that I finally had a chance to meet Jim Milles in person this weekend. He came up to Toronto from Buffalo, we met for dinner, and then went over to the first meetup of Toronto podcasters. That was an interesting and fun meeting. I learned an awful lot!

Internet Tools for Lawyers: Law Firm Extranets

Law Firm Extranets - by Jerry Lawson. Good article; the negative "watch out for" stuff is towards the end.

ETech@work - emerging technologies and trends in business

ETech@work is a new blog by Shwen Gee, an otter group advisory board member, to supplement supplement his podcast ETech@Work Podcast. I don't think the podcast part is up and running yet, but so far the blog is excellent!

SYNOPSIS:
From "blogging for business" to "podcasting for profit"--we've all heard the buzzwords, but who are these actually working for and what are the direct or indirect benefits of using such emerging technoligies (ETech) in corporate environments, academic institutions, and other organizations?

Information Highways - Now With e-Content!

Now rebranded as the "e-content institute," this year's Information Highways conference is smaller but sleeker... Gone are the halcyon days of yore with sprawling trade shows in the ginormous Toronto Metro Convention Centre. Instead this is a compact show at the Holiday Inn on King with three or four concurrent sessions, and probably about 350 attendees. This was day two of the conference, with seminars by vendors yesterday which I gave amiss.

I have notes to post later on each of the sessions I attended today, but let me give you a quick overview for now. Peter de Jager was keynote speaker talking about change management. I had not heard him speak before, and thoroughly enjoyed his talk. What he said made a lot of common sense, although I had not heard these specific ideas before. I am signed up for a full day workshop tomorrow with him, continuing on the theme of change. Should be good!

Next up were talks on intranet development, the use of wikis in organizations, reducing legal risk in using electronic content and product development, and finally a great session on competitive intelligence.

I saw a number of familiar faces: colleagues from other law libraries, vendor reps, and a friend in a completely different industry presenting at one of the sessions.

I also immediately spotted Dave Hook, The Industrial Librarian, after the keynote address. He looks a lot like his picture (imagine that) so it was fun meeting him face to face and talking with him in person for the first time. We chatted about the Computers in Libraries conference he had just attended, and for which he has been posting blog notes. He was a speaker at both events (CIL and today's) so it was interesting to compare notes on how our blogs have helped to raise our profiles. It was also a pleasure to meet his wife, a fellow blogger going by the handle Canadian Lib Genie. I think that is the first biblioblogging couple I've met!

That's it--gotta rest up for tomorrow. I probably won't be posting too much until the weekend since I'm hosting my bookclub tomorrow night and it would be overly optimistic to think I could fit blogging in sometime between food preparation and my friends arriving at my place. So, do stay tuned for those notes!

Cheers,
Connie