Blogarians – A New Breed of Librarians

Blogarians – A New Breed of Librarians Judit Bar-Ilan, judit@cc.huji.ac.il Presented at ASIST 2004 Annual Meeting; "Managing and Enhancing Information: Cultures and Conflicts" (ASIST AM 04), Providence, Rhode Island, November 13 - 18, 2004 Abstract This study examines the value of blogs as information dissemination tools. We based our finding on blogs created by libraries, librarians or information professionals. A relatively exhaustive list of blogs written in English was compiled from data obtained from several lists/directories. The blogs were extensively characterized considering several aspects. The findings indicate that blogs have a high professional potential and are a novel information channel for transferring information both to fellow professionals and to other users of the Web. The main challenge at this point of time is to increase the readership of these blogs. ---- Should we try to talk to her? How does this impact our session?

j's Talk at Harvard Business School's Library

I blogged about my talk at Harvard Business School's Baker Library. Many people had really good questions. The kind of odd one was what kind of scholarly sources can we read to find evaluations of blogs so we don't have to go look at the blogs ourselves. One woman during the second talk had lots and lots of good technical questions. She kind of drove the presentation, but in a good way, I think. I had a difficult time balancing her technical interest with the general introduction I was giving to others. Near the end of the talk, I noticed some people in the audience rolling their eyes when she raised her hand. I really liked the interaction, though, so I didn't mind her questions. And they were questions I could address, so that helped. = )

I demoed posting to my blog and a few other things for her and hope she'll come to a future blog group meeting. It's great to be able to redirect people with lots of interest and questions to the Thursday night blog group at Harvard. It's too bad I won't necessarily have that luxury at ASIST.

I also had someone suggest two other places I should speak, including making a joint presentation to the SLA-Boston Chapter with someone who does knowledge management.

I also plugged our panel, since Providence isn't too far away.

LIS Student Working on KM & Blogs

One of my favorite blog readers, Amy Disch, might do a portfolio for a class assignment on "knowledge management and how it can be facilitated through the use of blogs." Is it okay if I share the link to this blog with her? I think she would find our discussion and a lot of resources we've shared here very useful. If I explain to her our blog isn't for "public consumption," I'm certain she would respect that. Since she's in Wisconsin and a student, I also think it's highly unlikely that she would attend the ASIST Annual Conference, so reading what we're discussing about our panel won't ruin our session for her because she won't be there.

There's a chance her professor, Ed Cortez, whom I also had, might be at ASIST and might learn about the blog through her work, but I don't think that would really ruin anything for him.

RSS(sm): Rich Site Services: General Bibliography

Pointed out by Steven M Cohen. Thorough bibliography of presentations, etc., on RSS compiled by Gerry McKiernan, Science and Technology Librarian and Bibliographer, Science and Technology Department, Iowa State University Library. Elsewhere on the site: library related feeds.

Advertising What Our Panel Is About

I asked the four librarians I know at Harvard Business School's library if they had any questions offhand that I could try to address in my presentation to them on Friday about blogging. Since, as you know, there's a lot we could cover when we talk about blogs, I thought asking them might give me some direction or identify some territory I definintely need to cover. I got some good questions today that made me realize what I thought I was going to talk about and what some of them think I'm going to talk about is quite different. In forty minutes, I was asked to talk about blogging at Harvard and blogging in general. I was thinking of five major topics: what is a blog, why blog, what libraries and business schools are doing with blogs, how to find blogs to read, and feeds/blogs/aggregators. The talk was basically just advertised as "someone's coming here on Friday to talk about blogs." The questions I received today indicate that the person thinks it's forty minutes about which blogs she should be reading and why. The feedback I've received from others indicate they expect something along the lines of those five topics I outlined.

That got me thinking that perhaps we need to be clearer somehow about what we're presenting and what we aren't presenting. I haven't been to an ASIST conference before, so maybe this isn't as much of a problem. If we were doing this at SLA (Hey--we're all members. We could do a repeat, make this into a traveling roadshow. Okay, bad idea ...), it's very likely some people in the audience might be expecting a "60 blogs in 60 minutes" kinda thing.

I plan to talk about blog discovery and I have a list of things and sites I might cover during the presentation, but it's definitely not the focus of my talk. She had good questions--questions I imagine other academic librarians have (like what scholarly sources can I read that evaluate blogs so I can decide which ones to read).

(I can post my "thinking out loud" for that presentation on my blog 'cause none of them read it. I was hoping some of my readers would comment with suggestions, but oh well.)

This Blog Is Great for Blog Fodder!

I think it's going to feed the scratchpad pretty well. I just listened to the Talk of the Nation show on blogging, read the Time magazine article it mentions, and read the BusinessWeek piece. They all include interviews with the same people and are kinda repetitive, but good all the same. I spent a lot of time Monday and today working on my presentation for two groups of Harvard Business School librarians on Friday. I'll let you know if their questions or what happens there gives me any brilliant ideas for our presentation. I saw a list of topics the Special Libraries Association Boston Chapter is considering for their SciTech program this year and blogging, RSS feeds, and wikis are on the list.

Business Week: Blogging With The Boss's Blessing

6/28/04 (also pointed out by Gillmor) "More companies are helping employees to speak freely -- and bond with customers" Discusses Microsoft's increasing use of employee blogs to form relationships with customers... to not be seen as a monolithic entity, but as a group of individual people.

NPR : Talk of the Nation for Monday, June 21, 2004: Blogging Discussion

Pointed out by Dan Gillmor (pointed out by Shifted). A basic discussion. Lev Grossman (writer of the recent Time article) doesn't do a very good job of defining blogs. He tries to do it by discussing content (opinionated, very specific), not by discussing format. I think he misses the whole point. Also: Steve Rubel (Micro Persuasion) Dan Gillmor (SJ Merc-News) Ana Marie Cox (Wonkette)

My ProCite Output

1. Angeles, Michael, "K-Logging: Supporting KM With Web Logs."Library Journal 128, 7 (2003): 20. Abstract: Discusses a type of web logging called knowledge logging or k-logging. Information that can easily be put onto web sites; Organizations that can communicate knowledge easily with K-logs; Software that can be used for k-logging; Librarians who should provide content, share knowledge, and provide access. [A version might be available through the School Library Journal Web site: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA286642. jkb]
2. Berkman, Robert. "In a Fog Over Blogs? Stressed by RSS? The Best of Blog and RSS Search Engines." The Information Advisor 16, no. 2 (February 2004): 1-8.
3. Cohen, Alan. "Blogging for Business." PC Magazine 22, no. 23 (December 2003-): 74. Abstract: Crime fighters are turning to Web logs to keep a closer eye on illegal activity from narcotics to national security. Based in Sacramento, California, WSIN was founded in 1981 as one of six regional centers that provide a knowledge-sharing link between the federal government and local law enforcement agencies. WSIN serves approximately 1,100 law enforcement organizations in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington, ensuring that local crime-fighters have easy access to current data and analysis. WSIN maintains a criminal-intelligence database and has a pool of analysts who collect and make sense of incoming information. Much of its work relates to narcotics crime, but it also tracks organized crime and national security matters.
4. Doctorow, Cory and others. " Essential Blogging, Cory Doctorow and others. Sebastopol, CA : O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., 2002. Abstract: With weblogs or "blogs" exploding all over the Web, the only thing lacking for power users and developers is detailed advice on how choose, install, and run blogging software. Written by leading bloggers, Essential Blogging includes practical advice and insider tips on the features, requirements, and limitations of applications such as Blogger, Radio Userland, Movable Type, and Blosxom. This book will get you up and blogging in no time.
5. Dragan, Richard V. and Neil J. Rubenking, "TAKE BACK THE NET ."PC Magazine 22, 23 (2003-): 102-5. ZDNet, 2003-. Abstract: A blog is a filtering software and can help you disseminate your views, and a hosted blog service can help you get started in your business. Depending on the service, you can post to your blog by browser, e-mail, or even phone. For every celebrity blog, thousands are maintained by ordinary people. Launching a blog is about the simplest way to create a personal Web site. Unlike in the other services, a Radio UserLand blog is created locally using desktop Web server software and then "upstreamed" to the Web, so you always have a local copy of all your content. Themes or skins let you configure your blog's appearance to reflect your personality; if you know a little HTML, you can do some fine tuning. Many services include interactive elements to keep visitors engaged, like the ability to rate or discuss posts. A search function may help you find bloggers with similar interests. Exchanging links or joining blog rings helps drive traffic to your blog.
6. Dragan, Richard V. Rubenking Neil J., "TAKE BACK THE NET ."PC Magazine 22, 23 (2003-): 102-5. ZDNet, 2003-. Abstract: A blog is a filtering software and can help you disseminate your views, and a hosted blog service can help you get started in your business. Depending on the service, you can post to your blog by browser, e-mail, or even phone. For every celebrity blog, thousands are maintained by ordinary people. Launching a blog is about the simplest way to create a personal Web site. Unlike in the other services, a Radio UserLand blog is created locally using desktop Web server software and then "upstreamed" to the Web, so you always have a local copy of all your content. Themes or skins let you configure your blog's appearance to reflect your personality; if you know a little HTML, you can do some fine tuning. Many services include interactive elements to keep visitors engaged, like the ability to rate or discuss posts. A search function may help you find bloggers with similar interests. Exchanging links or joining blog rings helps drive traffic to your blog.
7. Field, Karen Auguston, "Why Every Engineer Needs a Weblog."Design News 58, 11 (2003-): 11. Reed Business Information, 2003-. Abstract: Argues that design engineers need to have a weblog, an online diary of sorts that features daily postings that include links to other sites and provides commentary on articles in the media. Benefits posed by weblogs to engineers; Qualities of weblogs; Criticism of weblogs.
8. Goans, Doug and Teri M. Vogel. "BUILDING A HOME FOR LIBRARY NEWS WITH A BLOG." Computers in Libraries 23, no. 10 (November 2003): 20-26. Abstract: Focuses on creating Weblogs for libraries. Information on Weblogs; Details of the functions of libraries and librarians; Discussion on the importance of Weblogs for libraries; Factors which must be considered before creating Weblogs.
9. Lynch, Jim. "RSS News Readers Browse for You." PC Magazine 22, no. 17 (2003-): 32. Abstract: Devised in 1999 by Netscape Corp. to gather content for its Netcenter portal, RSS is a dialect of XML. Even those involved in its creation haven't decided whether RSS stands for RDF Site Summary, Rich Site Summary, or even Really Simple Syndication. Web designers and other information providers use RSS to syndicate news content, site updates, blogs, and all sorts of timely data, pushing it out to users who subscribe or opt in for the feed. With an RSS news reader, one can add the site's RSS feed to the list of subscriptions, eliminating the need to visit the site regularly. Depending on settings at both ends, all the latest information from the site's feed will be pulled into RSS news reader.
10. Macdonald, Nico. "The Future of Weblogging." The Register (April 2004).Available online: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/18/blogging_future/.
11. McFedries, Paul, "Blah, Blah, Blog."IEEE Spectrum 40, 12 (2003): 60. 2003. Abstract: Focuses on Web log or blog, a kind of digital diary and a Web page to which a writer posts chronological entries on a particular topic. Main difference between a blog and a regular Webs site; Number of domain names that include the word 'bog'; Results of a survey by Perseus Development Corp. concerning the number of blogs on blog-hosting sites; Rise of moblog, a blog maintained and updated using a mobile device.
12. Metz, Cade, "TAKE BACK THE NET."PC Magazine 22, 23 (2003-): 101-2. ZDNet, 2003-. Abstract: Think back to the earliest days of the World Wide Web. In the early nineties, when the Web first rose to prominence, few saw it as a business medium. Unlike newspapers, radio, and television Çö media that broadcast the ideas of a select group of people and corporations Çö the Web would give widespread voice to every one of us. Very quickly, the Web was commandeered by those with the money and expertise to maintain and publicize Web sites: corporations, other businesses, the existing mass media. According to the Web survey firm Perseus Development Corp., more than 4 million people have built hosted blogs, and that number will grow to more than 10 million by the end of 2004.
13. Miller, Ron, "Blogging for Business. "EContent 26, 10 (2003): 30-34. Information Today Inc., 2003. Abstract: Considers the use of weblogs as a key business communication tool. Saturation of communication methods such as email; Emergence of blogs in the workplace; Importance of weblogs in improving communication internally and externally. INSET: Companies Featured in This Article. [Available online: http://www.ecmag.net/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=5578&Query=blogging%20business -- jkb]
14. Trott, Mena and Trott, Ben. "TrackBack Explanation: A Beginner's Guide to TrackBack ." [http://www.movabletype.org/trackback/beginners/]. 12 February 2004. Abstract: This document is an introduction to TrackBack from a non-technical perspective. The goal is to illustrate how the system can be used to enhance cross-site conversations and build community.
15. White, Martin, "Web Logs: Moving Beyond Cool."EContent 26, 12 (2003): 10. Information Today Inc., 2003. Abstract: Provides information on Web logs. Meaning and description of web log; Problem in searching information contained in public web logs; Cost of its software; Types of web logs and their descriptions.

ASIST Annual Conference Program

Notes from the 6/18/2004 Conference Call

We talked about the format of the talk and how to handle questions from the audience. It sounds like we're considering doing three separate presentations, perhaps with some kind of interaction between the four of us. We're considering ways to interact with the audience and how much audience interaction we want. We predict there will be many questions. Should we take questions at the beginning to try to address them during our presentations? Christina suggested asking people what they expect to learn from the session. j will post a note on j's scratchpad asking for ideas from her blog readers. That worked well to get BloggerCon topics. j posted the list of topics to this blog already.

Kris gave a profile of the potential audience. Academic and corporate librarians, information science people, and other technical people from the business world might be there. It sounds like there won't be too many audience members who have never heard of a weblog, so it may not be too critical to cover the basics.

Christina said she might begin with a summary of what each of us will cover and give a brief introduction to blogs and blogging.

Kris thinks more audience members will be interested in the bigger things, not the basics.

Kris said we wouldn't have the "naming" or commercial issues there were at BloggerCon. ASIST should let us name what systems we're using and those kinds of details.

Kris suggested that j talk about blogs in the news world and among news librarians. j said if people thought that was too boring, she could talk about many other things related to blogging.

Kris would like someone to talk about marketing their blog to management. j suggested Garrett might be good at that. Garrett agreed.

j also suggested that Christina talk about her lab's experience of selecting a blog.

Christina mentioned the communities of practice and collaborative weblogs. j and Garrett both blog on group blogs and could say something about that experience.

Kris suggested that it's better for us to talk big and not focus on the nitty-gritty details. If people want to know more about certain specific things, they can ask us later.

Christina mentioned a list of articles she has in a ProCite database that she would like to share with us somehow. She also mentioned that people like to have something to take away from the program, so we should consider having handouts, even if it's just a list of URLs.

Kris will check on whether we will have Internet access for our presentation.

Kris suggested trying to get some of the groupies from Harvard's Thursday night blog group to come down to Providence for the session and perhaps getting some involved in ASIST. j volunteered to plug it with the group.

j's notes are kinda bare-bones. Feel free to add to them or make corrections or clarifications.

Bill Ives' Portals and KM

The feed address

I just subscribed to it, so I think it works.

j can talk about RSS, too

I see someone found my RSS article. If the news librarian stuff is really boring, I'm happy to talk about RSS and Atom feeds, aggregators, and what's happening in that world. I'll probably still be tracking it all then, too.

j's BloggerCon Session Topic List

There are several posts on my blog with topics, but this one seems to be the best and most comprehensive.

Jessica Baumgart's RSS article.

Collin vs. Blog: Blogging @ MEA

Summary of Panel Discussion at the Media Ecology Association Conference at RIT, June 11, 2004 Panel included: Liz Lawley, Alex Halavais, Sébastien Paquet, Clay Shirky, and Jill Walker.

Blogs and CoPs: Can blogging replace communities of practice? - 21 May 2004

Blogs and CoPs: Can blogging replace communities of practice? - 21 May 2004

DNC Invites Some 'Bloggers' to Convention (TechNews.com)

6/3/04 by Jennifer Peter (AP) The Associated Press "In colonial America, the politically active spread their ideas in pamphlets still fresh from the printing press. Today's pamphleteers - the 'bloggers' who can put every idle thought on the Web - are being invited to the Democratic National Convention"