P.S. to Blogcasting
I was going to add a video to this blog so that I could play with the vod/blogcasting side of blogging. I ran into a problem with the fact that the standard (read free) version of Quicktime does not allow you to record video or audio. Has anyone come across shareware or freeware software that they could recommend for that? If not I will just try a few and see which one I like using.
Pod/Vodcasting… Blogcasting?
The first place I went for information on Podcasting and Vodcasting was Wikipedia. The articles seemed to gravitate around needing a specialized player for them, i.e. iTunes or Zune Marketplace, (even though it prompted me to look up Doppler Software, which is now an open source program, that was developed to aggregate these casts and add them to your media player, I am a big fan of upstart programmers that distribute a quality, free product) which allow you to subscribe to the Pod/Vodcast within the player itself. As for myself, I am more interested in using audio and video casting features through my blog. Wikipedia’s “See Also” section to the rescue.
Blogcasting is virtually the same idea as pod and vod, only simpler because you use the rss capabilities already embedded in your blog software and simply add the video or audio to your blog post for your readers to enjoy. This probably also helps in allowing your casts to be search-able through regular search engines by including text about the video, or audio, in the posting. The article also talks about RSS narrators which can read a text post and turn it into an audio file, virtually making a regular blog post into a podcast. The main difference, as far as I can tell, is that it allows the “followers” of your blog to simply hit “subscribe” on your blog and received your vod or pod cast in the reader they already use without the need for additional software. Since I am all about simplifying and making things as easy as possible for my readers (otherwise I might lose potential readers who don’t have, or don’t want, the additional software) I think that blogcasting is the format I would chose. Especially since I don’t imagine that all of my posts would be in an audio or video format.
I have never subscribed to an actual pod or vodcast. I have known about them and what they could offer me for quite sometime but have never felt like going through the steps necessary to add them to my iTunes, or taking up precious space on my iPod (I absolutely need at least 15 straight days of music on my iPod at all times). As soon as I started looking up blogcasts however, I subscribed to 5 of them of them immediately. Maybe I’m lazy but I like everything to come to me in a nicely rapped package. The fact that I can get video and audio casts within my reader where I already go to get read my blog subscriptions appeals to me.
Mashups
I have loved the idea of mashups since the first time I heard about them. Being able to piece together different parts of the web and build something specific to your needs so appealing to me. Maybe it comes from growing up playing with Legos and Lincoln Logs. I wish I had been in class last week because this is one part of Web 2.0 that really interests me. I occasionally dig around on a web site called programmableweb.com that has a compiled list of mashups which total over 3,000. I think I tagged it to everyone in class on del.icio.us about this time last month when I first came across it.
I looked around at both Yahoo Pipes and XFruits, I would have looked at Google’s Mashup Editor but it is still seems to be in BETA testing. Both of the working editors seemed easy enough to use from the information provided, I think I might try to build a mashup myself, maybe something like Everyblock.com which is a mashup between Google Maps and major city’s real-time crime statistics. Currently they only have them for Chicago, New York, and San Fransisco, but I assume they are working on other major cities. It allows people to keep track of crimes, and high crime areas, pinpointed on a map. Probably a helpful tool when looking for a home or something along those lines.
Mashups allow us to customize our web experience based on our interests and needs. This in itself is what Web 2.0 is all about and I feel are one of the best examples of what type of changes Web 2.0 brings us. I can’t wait to see how Google’s mashup editor turns out.
P.S. to Research Process
So I was checking my RSS feeds this morning and while reading AskDaveTaylor’s feed I came across a question/answer that is very relevant to this subject, I figured I should append my post and share it with ya’ll. The question asked of Dave was “Dave, any tips on how to get the best possible search results from Google? I spend a lot of time using Google and seem to have a hard time finding just what I want…” He gives some pretty helpful answers, as usual, right here.
Research Process
The first place I went to begin researching this subject was the website listed on the back of one of Mr. Batchelder’s books called “Web Search Garage” by Tara Calishain. The website, http://www.researchbuzz.org/wp/, was actually her blog but didn’t really have a whole lot of useful information on research processes, just some updates and links to other blogs and news articles. None of the links seemed to have much research information either, I think she saves the good information for her books, to give people a reason to purchase them.
I found a pretty interesting posting called Feeling Lost in a World of Search Zombies on the Association of College and Research Libraries’ blog. It references an article by Jakob Nielson called Bridging the Designer-User Gap in which he discusses research stating that 24% of people in a usability study weren’t even able to successfully run a Google search. This data might be slightly skewed or over-exaggerated since he is trying to sell readers on his usability camp, but it is interesting to read anyways. Anyone who has a chance should read the whole article, there is some other good points in it as well that don’t relate to searching. While the Nielson article is a little off topic, the way it is discussed in the ACRL post brings it closer to home. The article has one statement that says, “Have we created a generation of search zombies who listlessly tap away at the keyboard with no strategy at all just hoping they’ll find some information, and then mindlessly settle for whatever their first Google page yields?” This does seem to be the way a lot of people conduct their research on the Internet, which is a good reason why a lot of people have trouble finding exactly what it is they are looking for.
Successful research requires forethought and planning, dependent on what the desired result for the search is, different avenues have to be explored. For example, I found an excellent visual search engine for searching images and videos called oSkope which presents search results in a pretty original way. Google has some of the best search tools available, but that doesn’t mean they should be used exclusively in all research projects. Beyond selecting the appropriate avenue to begin a search, deciding how to word your search is also important. Nicole posted an interesting article from Google called, Advanced Google Search Operators which everyone should read if they run into problems getting the search results they are looking for, or narrowing down the volume of results that are returned. I like to alter the way I input search criteria, look over the results, and then further alter them. Tags and links in articles are usually where I end up finding what I am looking for, the searching just brings me to something related as a starting point.
Communities of Practice
Community of Practice, or CoP, is a term that I had never even heard of until it was brought up by Mr. Batchelder in class. So far all of the research assignments have been term that I was somewhat familiar with, just not very educated on. That being said, this weeks research has been somewhat new ground for me. Even though it has a lot of similarities to collective intelligence, it is quite different.
I found a blog by Steve Dale, it is called Steve Dale Online and it has a lot of information and links to different communities, groups and sites. He seems to be doing quite a bit of good work in this field and seems to have connections to a lot of CoPs. Through his blog I linked to a site called Communities of Practice for Local Government which is basically a forum for different CoPs. It even includes a search engine for finding a CoP you are interested in and allows you to apply to join them. Some other websites I found with a lot of information about CoPs are Communities of Practice by Community Intelligence Labs and Communities of Practice: Definition, Indicators & Identifying Characteristics by Distance Consulting who used this table to describe the key features of some different types of CoPs.
| Group Types | Function | Basis of Membership | Basis of Cohesion | Duration |
|
Communities of Practice |
Develop members’ expertise and define their place or role in the community |
Self selected |
Commitment and identification with the expertise that forms the basis of the practice |
As long as members have an interest in improving the practice and maintaining the community |
|
Formal Work Teams |
Perform the ongoing work that has been assigned to the team (e.g., produce and deliver a product or service) |
Everyone who has been assigned to the team |
Job/performance requirements and continuing, common goals |
Until the work or the organization is reorganized |
|
Project Teams and Task Forces |
Accomplish a specific task or assignment, usually during a particular time frame |
As assigned by the management |
Project milestones and goals |
Until the project or task has been completed |
|
Informal Networks |
Collect and share information of common interest |
Reciprocal value and acceptance, that is, members obtain and provide information of value |
Perceived value in belonging and participating |
As long as people have a reason to connect and share information |
CoPs seem to be very helpful to people in the same, or similar fields of practice. Whether they are sponsored or self-organized, they allow like-minded individuals to pass on things they learn that might be useful to colleagues and other people in similar situations. As time goes on I believe our class will function more as a Community of Practice and less as individual students. We already help each other, in some ways, to find and learn about the different aspects of what we are learning, and to complete assignments, but we could be more proactive in transferring knowledge amongst ourselves.
