Edtechkat

These 3 short clips from the Centre for Digital Ethnography in Kansas are about 1. changes in the way we use information, 2. the way we store and retrieve information and 3. the relevance of the classroom to todays’ students.. I have seen the first one played at probably 5 different conference presentations and embedded in many, many other places.

The Machine is Us/ing Us (Final Version) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g&hl=en]

Information R/Evolution http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4CV05HyAbM

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4CV05HyAbM&hl=en]

A vision of students today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o&hl=en]

If people aren’t showing the first one above at conferences, then they usually show the “Shift Happens” video – which outlines the political and technological shifts that today’s students will need to deal with.

Did you know 2.0 ? (Official update to Shift Happens) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U&hl=en]

Lecturefox describes itself like this:

What is Lecturefox?

It’s all about the joy of learning.

Lecturefox is a free service. You can find high-quality classes from universities all over the world. We collect without exception lectures from official universities, and we have a special interest in lectures from the faculties physics, chemistry, computer science and mathematics. In the category “faculty mix” you can find miscellaneous lectures from other departments like electrical engineering, biology, psychology, economics, history and philosophy.

It’s here http://lecturefox.com/ and includes opencourseware from universities like MIT, Yale, Harvar, UC Berkley, UNSW.  There are a large number of maths and sciences, but also other topics under “Faculty mix”. There are coursenotes, videos and audio.

I had a very quick look, but couldn’t find an introductory, basic maths course - although there are quite a few like “Mathematics for Computer Scientists”.

This library is introducing various databases to their students via interviews - with the databases personified. It was  mentioned at VALA by the rep from JSTOR during his talk about how things are changing. He was bemused by the avatar they chose for their interview with JSTOR.

It was pointed out to me again on twitter by a library podcast guru friend in this way “  Sigh, another library doing cool audio content and totally misusing the term podcast: http://tinyurl.com/2uqood  “

• -  Coordinate and promote use of emerging technologies for provision of library services.
• -  As a member of the Library’s Education and Reference team, evaluate effectiveness of new educational approaches and tools.
• -  As a member of the Library’s Web team, analyze technological priorities and implement solutions that effectively provide Web services at the point of need.
• -  Teach classes and workshops in the Library’s informatics training program, including curriculum-based educational programs, with particular attention to online instruction.
• -  Participate in the Library’s outreach efforts to UCSF faculty, staff, and students.

• -  Master’s degree from an ALA-accredited school of library and information science, or relevant education in related fields.
• -  Demonstrated aptitude to use emerging technologies for library instruction and related services.
• -  Capacity to critically investigate the potential of new technologies in an academic health sciences library.
• -  Familiarity with Web usability theory and evaluation.
• -  Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
• -  Teaching experience.
• -  Ability to handle multiple projects and responsibilities simultaneously.
• -  Capability of working independently and as a member of interdependent teams.
• -  Self-motivated and flexible regarding changing priorities.
• -  Committed to providing excellent service.

• -  One to three years of experience in a library or other technology-intensive setting.
• -  Familiarity and/or interest in managing technical projects.
• -  Background in health or biosciences.
• -  Experience with providing reference service.

 Duke University Library has had an Answer Person service since 1982, which they recently migrated to a blog.

 They reply seriously to serious questions and in a silly way to silly questions, but it is a great example of real, varied reference .. and makes the library come across as human.

http://library.duke.edu/blogs/answerperson/

I like this library suggestion blog. The prominent top link “Have a suggestion? Click here” takes the user to a web form.

Looks like the library staff then post the question and their answer in a new post, that the community can then comment on. Eminently do-able with wordpress.

 http://blog.vcu.edu/libsuggest/

I’m researching input devices to create good quality audio files and recording here some of my thoughts / products I find.

Audacity with a standard mike headset produces a sufficient quality recording for many purposes. Here are some instances where we need more:

1. Many people speaking on the same audio file at once (eg. interviews or the multivoice library podcasts)
2. Recording live presentations (eg. before Infosharing or visiting speakers )
3. Recording people as they move about (eg. tour of library art works or presenters who won’t sit still)

Possible solutions:

• SOLUTION A - For 1. and 2. Good omnidirectional USB microphone plugged into laptop running Audacity.
• SOLUTION B- For 1. and 2. Self contained portable device that has omnidirectional microphone producing files for post-processing in Audacity.
• SOLUTION C - For 3. Clip on portable recorder with small clip-on mike through input jack producing files for post-processing using Audacity.

Would be nice to find something that did both SOLUTION B and C - a portable studio that you could mute the big mike when you plug in a small mike.

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Possible Gear

Omnidirectional mike

Blue Snowball $249 in Australia seems to balance functionality and price.

Otherwise, pro is very expensive. Cheap may well be adequate.

DJ friend recommended Shure SM58 - been around for years and widely used, around $250, but reviews are mixed .

Field Recorders

List of examples here, Portable Digital Recorders

Samson Zoom H2 Here’s the Profile/price on Australian site Around $370. Has SD card. Ridiculously easy to operate and very good reviews although may be a bit flimsy.

For more money, the other well regarded field recorder is the Edirol R09 .

iPod with recording mike

Belkin Tune Talk - Belkin claims it works with new style iPod Classic if their firmware is updated In Australia - around $89

iPod Classic is the only device compatible with the BTT. In Australia 80G - $319

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Spoke to Leo Murray who lectures in Radio at Murdoch and he advised me that iPods without flash memory have mechanical drives that can be heard with recording.

They use the precursor to the Edirol R09 , the Eidirol R1 . We can borrow one from the Loans counter in Humanities to see what they are like. They do a similar thing to the R09, but are bulkier. The H2, or the Edirol09 would be suitable for recording someone walking around the library.
Any external mike would need to be on a stand or somehow isolated from any noise transmitted via a table it was placed on. You could use a stand, or a jumper, or ensure people didn’t bump the table. He suggested that contact mikes, like the hemispherical mikes used for conference calls, would be more suitable for multivoices if placed on a table - although a portable recorder would do the job too.

They use external mikes with the portable recorders if they want to ensure the sound is coming from just one direction.