The Wonderful World of Wikis

For our service learning project, we decided to look at some other wikis to get an idea of what is out there. I have to say, that I saw some really impressive things. I like working with wikis. We learned how to write in html code in 401 and I have attended a few workshops for using various webpage building software, but I had never even felt remotely comfortable creating webpages. Wikis are different. They are so easy to use! However, I thought the the trade-off was a very "plain jane" looking site. Now I now know that this is not so. There are some excellent, very visually appealing wikis out there. What I find truly amazing is that I first worked with a wiki just three years ago. The level of sophistication was much lower and that is where I developed my opinion that wikis cannot be pretty. I know technology is moving along at a nice clip, but the rapid pace that improvements are being made in the realm of social networking technology still manages to astound me. The examples I have seen have shown me for one that the page formatting possiblities are much broader than I had imagined. Plus, to reference an earlier post: the widget possibilities are amazing and several are offered for free. The free part just blows my mind! We have spent so much time being constantly warned about the dangers and depravity of the Internet, that it is hard to believe that some are creating this cool tools and then just giving them away for the good of everyone. It's nice to see a creative endeavor that was made to help, not just for a profit. Some of the more tradtional arts have lost that spirit. Now I find myself wandering into the area of copyright, so I will end this here before things get ugly.

Follett Destiny

My library is currently operating on Follett Circulation Plus system and we have not updated in a few years. I have been trying to persuade our tech guy that we needed to update our system and move our OPAC to the Internet. So, I was very happy when our tech guy sent me an invitation to a webinar on the Follett Destiny system. One, I am excited that the upgrade I have been pushing for is being seriously considered, and two, I have never been to a webinar. As with a lot of things technology-based, the webinar did not go on without a hitch. The e-mail with the address we needed to go to was captured by the spam-filter. Then, the sound did not work. Luckily, the Follett people were prepared. They had it set-up so we could listen over speakerphone. The webinar itself was rather bland. It was a Powerpoint with someone reading a script. Some features that I would love to have are mainly in the OPAC. One, we have some of the Web 2.0 features. The OPAC would have pictures of the book covers and students could write reviews with star ratings (the reviews are approved by the media specialist before being posted.) I think this would be a great tool for teaching the students about the OPAC while giving me a great tool for collaboration with the teachers. Another thing I really liked was that the OPAC would be on the Internet. I think this would ultimately help out our three elementary schools. They are small schools staffed by paraprofessionals. By making all the collections searchable by all the schools, my hope is that they would use that feature to start doing loans between buildings. The final feature that I was excited about is that they will enhance our MARC records. As I pointed out, out of our five schools three are staffed solely by parapros and another has a media specialist, but her parapro does the cataloging. I took over the cataloging from my own parapro when I came to the high school. While these ladies have done an outstanding job (with no training), the catalog has definitely suffered. I would much rather have Follett clean up the records then have to do it myself. I am one of those weirdos who likes cataloging, but that would be too much of a good thing.

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

I have had a question keep popping up in my head since this class started, but instead of risking ridicule by my peers, I kept it to myself. But it is time to stand up and be strong. My name is Jenny and I don't know what a "widget" is.

I thought widgets were what George Jetson's company manufactured, but I doubted that this was the same context.

Okay, I know now, but every time Dr. Ball threw that term out there I would just let it slide right on by. "Maybe someone else will ask this time?" I feverishly hoped. Alas, it was not to be. I had noticed the "widget" button on the wiki page when I was in high tech learning last semester, but by the time we were that far into the class I was drowning in so much new technology I just could not bring myself to figure out something else new (that wasn't required.) I never thought it would come back to haunt me.

Finally, at our small group meeting which felt like a safe place (that's for you Tara) I confessed to my "widget" ignorance. My group very nicely and patiently explained what they are, but the real bonanza came when I (finally) opened this month's copy of School Library Journal and there was an article called "Widgets to the Rescue" by Ellyssa Kroski. I now practically have information coming out of my ears!

Now, while I feel excited and liberated to finally know what Dr. Ball's been talking about, I do feel the need to reassure her that I do not plan on convincing my group to make our wiki a wall of widgets. However, I cannot promise I won't use anymore over-the-top alliterations. I have only so much self-control.

Teamwork

What makes a team work? I believe that the most important thing for a team to be successful is communication. As I have stated before, I am a media specialist in a high school. Recently, a report from our web filter came through. Apparently, this report was supposed to be a regular occurance. It showed that in one week over 240 students in a 725 student school were shown to be visiting websites that they were not supposed to be on. So while the person in charge of discipline sorted through all these, every student on the list had their internet shut off for a week. However, teachers were not warned. Teachers did not find out what was going on and why until we were two or three days into the week long suspension of privileges. That had a huge impact on instruction. Projects that had already suffered setbacks from weather delays and cancellations were further crippled by no internet access for parts of the class. Once the situation was explained, most teachers understood and thought the punishment was appropriate. However, they often asked why they could not have been told what was going on sooner. A lack of communication made a difficult situation worse. It left the teachers feeling out of the loop. It is hard or even impossible to feel like a valued member of a team if one is not consulted or informed of important decisions that affect the entire team. Now, I am not saying that every little decision needs to be decided by a committee, but the whole team needs to be kept informed or it stops being a team.

On the bright side, several teachers improvised by having their students use books from the media center! The lack of team work from others allowed me the chance to show I was a team player by helping teachers and students do research on the fly. (Flexiblity is also a trait of successful teamwork, but that is a topic for another posting.)