cases for this week...

It is very impressive to see at what level of distinction that some libraries have their RSS feeds. Some are very particular and have RSS for each genre and or group of interest like that Tacoma Public Library. I also found a drawback from the Tacoma Public Library's page, and it had to do with its presentation. It had information on RSS and what it can do, etc at the bottom after the long list. If I was a patron looking at that page, I might be lost, and on a usability scale, it's not too friendly as you have to scroll down low to find more information, which is really pertinent for a new person desiring to know more about RSS.

There was only one library that had an RSS function for personal account updates which was that Hennepin Public Library. I think some organizations might have this function already installed through email, as I have experienced that in the past with previous academic libraries, but it would also be nice to see the opportunity to see it come from RSS. The University of Oklahoma even had an RSS for job opportunities which I also found neat and useful if you were thinking of working there. It would save the user from going back to check all the time to see if a job has been posted.

Week 4 readings...

The Lee Feever video was pretty cool and interesting. It makes it simple and easy to understand. It is also very pleasing and I think it could be very appealing to a large audience. It's a good informative way of doing it. His recap is also a great as it informs the viewer of the steps to take. His drawing the house is neat and the other images also make the video really to the point and informative. It breaks it down to something really simple, which it should be as RSS is not really complicated.

The Cohen article is also very interesting, and the practicality that he brings into it is great. However, I do find some of his information a bit hard to read over at least at a first glance, when he gets into “default query URLs”, it is not that easy to read, and could have maybe been written in a different way which could have been clearer. Also, the article seemed a bit dated when I finished it, then I scrolled to the top and realized it had been written in 2002, which made some sense.

The article from “Content Publishers and Webmasters” uses a lot more geek talk and is intended for a mature audience, more techy or for people doing coding. The information is good, but I would not suggest this article to just anyone, as the content could be easily overwhelming. However, if someone really wanted to know the roots of things, it might be a good place to start.

The Robin Good article offers a lot of good information with his list of 17 positive aspects, and 11 possible problems and limitations. He points out a lot of good information and things to consider. His title, which infers to email vs RSS, Good makes an interesting case around this topic. He brings out a good point in ”Electronic inter-personal and business exchanges will still largely utilize traditional email”. This point is very true as too much information is private, and meant only to be seen by some people, not everyone. There are differences between RSS and email and Good presents a good case on their difference and that they won't ever beat each other over for one to win the race as they seem to serve two different purposes.

week 3..cases...

Week 3 case studies...

These blogs are for the most a step down from the previous week's case studies. Most of them, except for one seems really casual, and nonchalant. The Library Lounge blog was the one that seemed to stick out, and was semi-more professional. The “Save Point” blog seems really youth/kid oriented, at least from the posts that I looked at, the target audience is for young people. Saying this, now it makes me think it does still have promise even on a library webpage, as there are different target audiences, and if I was in a public library, I may want to try and have a more appealing blog for youths if I was in charge of youth programs, etc. Depending on the audience, your blog should attempt to cater to it. So I think I should recant my first opinion on the professional look of the blogs, and rather say that the “casual” look is all about the purpose and the intended group that it is constructed for.

a little behind...

week 3 article comments...

The Scout article, made me question something, as to who should be writing on the blog. The article suggests that it should only be one person. Thinking about a small library, I could see that only one person would be writing, but in a small university with only one library, which services all areas, why not have a few staff members, possibly reference and administration writing on the blog. Having to channel all the information to one person takes away from authorship, if you decide to go that way, and if anyone ever has any answers, it takes away from the person who wrote the piece. Also, people go on vacation, so are you supposed to write about your Cancun adventure while in Cancun, or would you rather someone keep up on the information while at the library. Sharing the responsibility also would encourage staff to be knowledgeable of the technology and have their say in some things, which is not always bad. Accountability is always number 1, but having more than one person contribute to the library's information on the blog, I would think is not a bad thing.

The Catalyst Group Design “usability report” is quite interesting in how people in 2005 did not really know about blogs, even though they were techie web people. I wonder what would happen today if this study was done, not with web savvy people, but rather with random pool of participants, ranging from all ages. Would we get the same results?

The Ethical Blogger article is very interesting and very harsh on what a librarian can put on their blog, as the information has to be taken very seriously. I understand if you're writing for an organization, you do not write in rumors or half-based/fact information. However, if it's a casual blog, and they wish to comment on what they want, who really cares, some blogs are personal, be opinionated, etc, and I do not think they should be taken like reference questions, in their information.

The Fitcher article is really informative and basic, but a good starting point for a library to get some information on where, how, and what a blog could do for their library.