Facebook and what I think of it

FACEBOOK:  This could be a huge time-waster or a great boon.

This is a social network site in which each page contains the information about the page creator that covers those parts of their daily life, their friends and their interests that they wish to share with the world. For some people it is a constant stream of information about the mundane activities and a way of social intercourse, for others it is a venue for the communication of group activities and for many , a way to keep in contact which replaces E-mail and letters. The resultant posting are instant and can be wide spread.

As a first time user, I find that the volume of material which is collected from those who I have made friends and of which I have no interest can be a bit daunting. This problem may be corrected when I find a method of filtering out the information which is not required or of no interest.

For those of us who are savvy with the new methods of communications and who like to provide or receive instant  information, this is the perfect form of talking with others and a great way of instant response. For me, at the moment, it seems to be a bit intrusive. No doubt as I become more familiar with social media  and the things to which it can be applied, there will be an escalating acceptance of this facility.

I can see that it could be useful to me in group projects as a means of distributing information about activities and planned events. It could also be a means of providing details to any person with similar interests to those who are already participating in the projects. These are similar needs as those required in a library situation for the broadcasting and promotion of their activities.


I found this site which could be of interest to those who are involved in the provision of RFID in a library situation.

Dialoc ID BV │Library detection & identification │ Retail EAS │RFID Projects

Facebook. 2013. "Dialoc ID BV │Library detection & identification │ Retail EAS │RFID Projects" [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/Dialoc[Accessed: 3 Sep 2013].

This is a site aimed to provide information to persons interested in the use of RFID systems in a library environment and has small posts which describe product advancements, usage and news relating to all subjects invovling libraries. The range of posts is only limited by the application of the filters imposed by the creator of the page.

Because this is a commercial site, the provision of authority is only obtained from the reputation of the company, Dialoc ID. This company was established in 1977 as a supplier of imported products for library security in the EAS market. They developed their own products during the 1980's and have been marketing under their own brand since 1992. The head office is located in  Harderwijk, the Netherlands,  but they have established partnerships with companies in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and America. The products they supply are Library Detection Systems (EM, RFID, Hybrid -EM & RFID-, RF) and projects based on RFID (e.g. Logistic Industry, Library Patron Cards). The products are supplied to more than 40 countries using three different kinds of technologies. (EM / RF / RFID)
More information can be obtained on the company website [http://www.dialocid.com] including the following:

"Dialoc ID is an innovative technology driven company who builds up its quality, flexibility and expertise, based on a long term experience in the field of detection and identification in Libraries (EM/ RFID) and other markets like retail (EAS: EM/ RF/ RFID) and industry (RFID)." 
 AIMS:
Dialoc ID aims to be a leading manufacturer of library equipment, by providing customers top quality products with innovative and optimal solutions for automation, management, information and security systems. Our employees are ambitious, powerful and dedicated to their jobs with maximum prestige and pleasure to serve our valuable customers.

Twitter and what I think

This could be a valuable tool to many people, but to me this would require a major shift in procedure. The use of this form of communication needs constant attention to keep up with the arrival of messages, particularly if you have a large list of people to follow. When I connected to the sites I wished to follow, there was a flood of messages arrived from the past which I am still trying to assimilate.

I found this great site about the use of RFID in libraries to follow on Twitter but the problem is that the website itself is based in Egypt and to read it properly would require a knowledge of the Arabic language. Push the translate button to choose ENGLISH and away we go. This only translates the information in the body of the page, at the moment most of the side menus and links remain in Arabic but they are working on a full English page.

RFIDinLibraries@RFIDinLibraries

Twitter.com. 2013. RFIDinLibraries. [online] Available at: https://twitter.com/RFIDinLibraries [Accessed: 28 Aug 2013].

This account is designed to provide information to others about the applications of RFID technology in libraries particularly in the Arabian area. The site contains links to recent news, articles, field studies and conferences regarding this topic.

The administrator of the site is Mahmoud Sayed Abdou, who is working as a Librarian and Information specialist in the position of Cataloger Librarian at The Library of Congress, Cairo Office. He has a masters degree based on RFID technology and its applications in libraries with the aim of deploying this technology in the Egyptian library system. He was invited to provide a paper at the 78th IFLA General Conference and Assembly in  Helsinki 2012. These qualifications provide the required  authority to this site.

Mahmoud Sayed Abdou

My experience with YouTube

Getting onto YouTube was not difficult as I already had an account from 2011. The problem I had was being able to upload a video. This could not be done without creating a channel which the system did not seem to want to do. Having finally managed to create the necessary channel and uploading the required video that I produced, doing the other required tasks and checks as to the quality of the product were simple actions.

TeacherTube, when I had a short look at it, seemed to be a good source of material for those in the teaching fraternity. The site appears to include a good range of topics, all of which seem to include videos and data related to a wide range of educational standards. There is a bias of material dealing with the USA system but I did see enough Australian items to make the site of some value to anyone within our school systems as well.

I spent some time looking for an appropriate existing video within YouTube to evaluate. I chose a video which was inline with my final presentation as this seemed to be the best choice and provided some additional information to add to my collection of things to include in the presentation.






The process to embed the video into the Blog is made simple by the function within Youtube to copy the Embedding code and the use of the HTML editor in Blogger to insert this code into the post page.

Library Podcast

 Overnights with Trevor Chappell and Rod Quinn

 Perrett, M. Digital Libraries, ABC radio Overnight program [podcast] 27 May 2010 Available at http://www.abc.net.au/overnights/stories/s2911204.htm [Accessed: 20 August 2013]


Digital Libraries
A story broadcast on ABC Radio during the Overnight program Thursday, May 27, 2010         produced by Molly Perrett and vocal by radio personality Rod Quinn who is talking with Dr Alex Byrne

This is a 15 minute segment of the program, discussing the subject of digital libraries. The question under consideration is, 
"As books move towards a paperless future, can Libraries in their present form survive. or is it more likely that we will see more libraries like Project Gutenberg, the world's oldest digital library, founded in 1971 by Michael S Hart?"

As this is a radio program, it is necessary to find authority from the organisation broadcasting the item and from the status of the person being interviewed. 

The organisation is Australia's public broadcasting authority who are a component of the Australian government thus are supported by and gain authority from the Commonwealth.

The person providing the information is Dr Alex Byrne, the university librarian at UTS and the former President of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. These credentials show that he has the position and knowledge to provide accurate information

Hong Kong Public Libraries - Smart Return Station (RFID)

YouTube. 2013. Smart Return Station (RFID) 2013 Hong Kong Public Libraries  submission. [online] Available at: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WsE7med_Ik] [Accessed: 21 Aug 2013].

Hong Kong Public Libraries                                 Published on Jun 18, 2013
Smart Return Station (RFID)


This is a short instruction video produced by the staff of the Hong Kong Public Libraries for demonstrating to library clients the techniques required to operate the Smart Return Station installed as part of the Pilot Scheme of 'Smart Identification System' launched in 2012 at six selected libraries of the network.  These stations use the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology applied to the stock held by the library to create a more user-friendly and efficient self-charging and self-return services.

Authority for this video is obtained from the credibility of the authors. This is a government organisation, part of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, controlled by a Public Libraries Advisory Committee which is appointed by the Secretary for Home Affairs and composed of professionals, academics, community personalities and government representatives appointed for a two year term. More information can be found at the following site.


http://www.hkpl.gov.hk/english/aboutus

MY view of podcasts

This proved to be interesting. In my usual way I was expecting more than there actually is. To had a perceived problem that it did not work, only to find that these things are auditory not visual. I was looking to have vision associated with the podcast and when nothing appeared I assumed that it was not working. A blinding flash of realisation and away I went. These things can be very informative if you treat them correctly.

 Having eliminated my problem, the exercise tasks required of me were not that difficult to achieve. I think this is a very good way to disseminate information to a remote audience. Podcasts would be an opportunity for library staff to provide information sessions to customers who could not attend  the library in person to receive answers to requests for information or in-house tutorials. Podcasts may be time consuming to produce but having been made, they would save time in not having to repeat the same information regularly on common topics.

podcast evaluation

10 Benefits To Podcasting [New Audio!]

Posted on February 28, 2012

by Todd Schnick

 

The full post is viewed using this link

http://intrepid-llc.com/podcasting/10-benefits-to-podcasting-new-audio/

 

 

The podcast is accessed using this link

<iframe width="500" height="24" src="http://intrepid-llc.com/?powerpress_embed=14988-podcast&amp;powerpress_player=default" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>

 

 

 

THe 10 benifits discussed are:

1. Builds rapport with your audience. Hearing your voice works wonders to deepen the connection.
2. Creating audio content is easy. I recorded the audio here via my smartphone.
3. Interview others to create good content for YOU. You don’t always have to create from scratch.
4. Podcasts are easy to share on the internet. The social webs are great for sharing and spreading!
5. Published podcasts become indexed content on the search engines, helping your SEO. Just tie the audio to the appropriate keywords!
6. The interview process for your podcast becomes high-end networking for you. All everyone benefits. The interview process is a great way to learn about someone.
7. Your audio content is available 24 hours a day. Helpful content when your audience wants it!
8. If your podcast guest is a prospect, the show experience is a kick ass sales call. The experience is memorable and fun.
9. Reaching out to invite someone to your show is much easier approach than a sales cold-call. And more effective. A sales call puts people on the defensive. A radio show invitation does not.
10. The interaction builds trust, rapport, and a friendship. Much easier to sell this way.

Evaluation:

This is a commercial site established to advertise the author's Content Marketing Course and to allow people to enrol in this course. The author, Tod Schnick, the   is a consultant to businesses serving in the capacity of marketing, sales and business strategy. He has written books and bloggs since 2008 and regularly is employed as a speaker about his business and life philosophy. He has spent several years as a political stategist during elections and as a radio show host and producer, has hosted many business talk shows in his Alanta studio, on the internet or on the trade show floors across North America. Due to this wide range of experience, he has the authority to provide valuable information about this topic.

Although the podcast was produced and posted in February 2012, the information is of a type which will remain valid with the passing of time. The podcast is short and to the point and I think it is designed primarily as a taster for prospective clients to his courses. It discusses the ten (10 ) most important reasons for his use of podcasts to diseminate information to his audiences. These appear to be very valid reasons in my experience.