The Tipping Blog - How Weblogs Can Turn an Idea into an Epidemic

"Of course, every epidemic needs both a host and a virus to spread. If weblogs are the host organism, then the virus is nothing less than the humble hyperlink. In retrospect, links are the perfect vehicle for an ideavirus! Each link represents a new web page, complete with the promise of tantalizing new content to tempt the reader. And most important, a link can replicate from one weblog to the next with shocking speed....

Perhaps the biggest change is the blurring of the distinction between Mavens and Connectors....

The Paul Reveres of the world are much more common online than offline. The reason is simple: offline Connectors have to be outgoing extroverts with lots of friends. But Online Connectors, on the other hand, don't have to be be extroverts at all. In fact - and this happens quite often online - Online Connectors are often quite shy and introverted Mavens." [at Microcontent News, via Redwood City PL's LibLog]

I'm sure this was highlighted while I was on vacation, but I'll grab every opportunity to highlight Malcolm Gladwell's book The Tipping Point to librarians. We could learn a lot from it.

The things you miss when you're off enjoying vacation.... Lori and ILA RTSF have started yet another blog, this one devoted to Innovative Illinois Libraries. Right now, she's highlighting various persons in the field, and the current winning contestant is Frances Roehm, who is most deserved indeed. As I was shutting down my PC at work for the day, I saw a most intriguing note from her in my inbox, which I will have to respond to tomorrow. Hopefully more on that soon, as it could be another VIP (Very Important Project) in Illinois!

The previous featured librarian was Laura Barnes, who notes that the "favorite part of her job is 'finding information that my users need before they know they need it.' " I just love that quote and had to include it here.

And if that's not enough for you, Laura was preceded by Rachel Singer Gordon, she of LISJobs.com and LJ's Movers & Shakers. Yes, Illinois librarians rock!

Without taking sides in BurningBird's debate with Dave about gender bias, I actually think it's pretty cool that Dave suggested pairing librarian conferences and developer conferences back in August. "They'd get better software and we'd get more users and kinder feedback." Granted he seems to have removed this statement, but I'm going to give Dave the benefit of the doubt and interpret this statement to mean that librarians would get better software because they'd be able to provide important feedback during the development cycle and developers would get more constructive criticism to help improve their products. And that certainly is true - we need them, and they need us. [via BurningBird via Megnut]

My brother has an interesting theory that civilization itself owes its very existence to women. If women hadn't kept the home fires burning, organized everything, started agriculture, and raised the kids, men wouldn't have been able to go out and hunt for food, let alone do much else. Did I get that right, Bruce?

For the record, I didn't officially go to the PLA conference in Phoenix, but I did walk the exhibit floor. Boy, did I walk the exhibit floor. Four hours out of my vacation, but it was worth it. It took so long because I saw some very interesting products and spent time talking to the vendors. As if to confirm Murphy's Law (hey, Dave!), the internet connection to the entire building went down during this time, so I didn't get to see all of the demos that I had wanted to test. And by the end, I was running out of time and didn't make my annual trek over to the Innovative booth to ask about the Palm module. Unfortunately, I also didn't have time to check out the online reference service vendors.

However, here is a sampling of the more interesting products that I saw.

Matt was there from Audible, and they looked to be doing bang-up business. Hooray! I was with the president of my home library's board of trustees, and he just happens to be blind. We have very interesting discussions about technology, accessibility, and the intersection between the two. More on that later but he, too, had another good discussion with Matt. Audible is back to pushing their Otis player (I'm having trouble linking directly to it, but just click on the "Buy a player" option in the left-hand navigation of the site), which seems very promising for both libraries and disabled customers because of its simplicity. Audible is also actively working on providing home access for library-owned Audible titles. Three cheers for them - they "get" it!

Next up were some wireless handheld scanners from ADC that interact with your circulation system. This is the first time I had seen such a beast that did this in real-time. The rep also claims the devices function as PDAs (for mobile reference services), but they'd need bigger screens to be of any real use. Still, the ability to check in, check out, or weed an item from anywhere in the building is a big step forward, especially as libraries move further down the wireless path. I'd love to beta test these things, and supposedly one of ADC's partner companies is working on embedding speech-synthesizing technology into these puppies.

In a previous post, I mentioned making wireless scanners available to patrons for various reasons, and this blend of technology would finally allow actual browsing of the shelves by blind patrons for the first time. Wow! I'll definitely be following this one, although I have a funny feeling Teri is way ahead of me on this one.

I almost passed up the booth for Learn A Test, but I'm very glad I didn't. This company provides online access to 150 civil service, real estate, military, professional licensing, and academic practice tests. That means you can take the practice tests for the GED, ASVAB, postal service, firefighter, law enforcement, ACT, SAT, EMS, and more online at your own pace. The service provides instant scoring, explanations for both right and wrong answers, individual analysis, and more. The best part is that these folks want to work with libraries so they provide a site license for unlimited simultaneous use by patrons! Say it with me folks - wow!

My home library signed up on the spot (as did several others), so I'll let you know more about it after they get their access up and running. For a community of approximately 30,000 residents, this service costs just under $1000. Plus, it's all web-based so there's no special software to download. The Library's board president is going to test it for accessibility, too, although the LAT rep is supposed to get back to us with details about how they meet the WAI Guidelines.

I saw some other neat stuff, but these were the highlights. The Matthews bookmobile had a working web tablet that could go wireless, along with some Pocket PCs for the same purpose, but the internet connection was down so I couldn't test them. Bookmobile technology sure has come a long way!

Bill Moen's study, commissioned by the Illinois State Library, now has a web site and a name. The goal is to compare the shared catalogs of the regional Library Systems in terms of cost and access in order to enhance holdings access across the State. I'm not really involved with this, but my hope is that it will somehow have positive outcomes for the Virtual Illinois Catalog (VIC), which we really need to move forward with, like, yesterday.

Slashdot points out two great new gadgets from CeBIT:

• "A company from Israel called VKB has created a vitual keyboard that can be displayed, using a laser, on almost any surface. Connect it to your PDA and use your kitchen table as a keyboard."
• "Olympia has created sound device called Soundbug that uses any hard surface as a speaker. Again, attach this to your PDA and kitchen table and enjoy your mp3's."

I'm really intrigued by the VKB keyboard, although reflecting the image on a car's interior the way they show does cause me some hesitation! I wonder if there is some way to integrate this technology with a PDA and a flat screen monitor in order to create mobile training labs for libraries.

"Meyer says that companies typically start out blocking what filtering firms call the 'sinful six' categories: pornography, gambling, illegal activities, hate sites, tasteless material and violent content. Then, the businesses begin looking at ways to raise productivity.

That was the approach of John Belich, application support specialist at the St. Petersburg, Florida, public library system. After setting up the usual filters on porn and hate sites, Belich used Websense to block employees from using instant messaging or downloading MP3 files -- two activities that wasted time and sapped hard-drive space. The results were visible. " [Wired News]

Sadly, the St. Petersburg Library is officially declared not shifted. So I can't listen to music while I'm at work or use instant messaging to ask questions at the SPPL? They obviously don't understand how IM could help with internal communications. Sad, sad, sad. Et tu, St. Pete?

" 'The reality is, the employee who wants to goof off will goof off regardless,' he said."

Why do so many managers and executives view computer-literate employees who are smart enough to use the internet as slackers? This mentality was very prominent in libraryland when the internet first hit our radar, but now it's become a necessary and integral part of our working lives. Don't you want your employees to be information-literate, too? I understand the goof-offs, but this is a poor attitude to have towards the people that you want to make your organization succeed.