1. RT @VenessaMiemis: 16 free ebooks about social media via @fredzimny. Just look at this list of titles and authors :

1. Building a Social Media Team, Amber Naslund,
2. ContentCory Doctorow
3. Customer Service, The Art of Listening and Engagement Through Social Media, Brian Solis
4. Fish Where the Fish Are – Mapping Social Media to the Buying Cycle, Chris Brogan
5. Getting a Foothold in Social Media, Amber Naslund
6. Let’s Talk: Social Media for Small Business, John Jantsch
7. New Media and the Air Force, United States Air Force Public Affairs Agency
8. Social Media and Network Starting Points, Chris Brogan
9. Social Media Time Management, Amber Naslund
10. Social Media Tips: Sharing lessons learned to help your business grow, Jeff Hayzlett
11. The Art of Community, Jono Bacon
12. The Essential Guide to Social Media, Brian Solis
13. The New Rules of Viral Marketing, David Meerman Scott
14. The Simple Web: A Philosophy for Getting What You Want, Skellie
15. The Social Media Starter Kit, Amber Naslund
16. What is Social Media?, Antony Mayfield

2. RT @VenessaMiemis: new post – reimagining human/social capital & how to spark innovation - Tapping the Network to Facilitate Innovation – How can the power and scope of social networks, combined with a human capital inventory, be used to facilitate shared creation and innovation?

3. RT @FluffTheBunny: Unlink your feeds – A Manifesto – as someone who is driving slightly (or slightlier) crazy by friends who dump their tweets into Facebook I can’t agree more!

4. Incredibly proud to be involved in the new Libraries & Transliteracy blog with @Tombrarian & @buffyjhamilton – oh come on, you didn’t think I could leave a mention of this out did you? I’m SO excited about this project!

5. RT @rww: On Facebook, You’re Really You - “Psychologists found that “faking it” online is tougher than previously imagined.”

6. No One Knows What the F*** They’re Doing and Feeling Like a Fraud – great read! via @griffey – I don’t know about you but I feel like this all the time, I’m just waiting for someone to notice I don’t know what I’m talking about. I’ve discussed it with friends and some people have called it the impostor syndrome (don’t look at wikipedia’s definition its too

7. RT @zephoria: UX Magazine (@uxmag) has published my “Streams of Content, Limited Attention“ today: Hope you enjoy! – An important read from danah boyd on information flow and “four challenges, points where technological hope and reality collide.”

8. Why are you apologizing? – Like all of Seth Godin’s posts this one is short but gets the point across. Don’t apologize for something you’re doing. Either don’t do it, or do it and don’t apologize.

9. How Social Is Too Social? – not everything is better with friends.

10. Empowering Parents & Protecting Children in an Evolving Media Landscape –  Another important read from danah boyd et al “The FCC published a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) on the important topic of empowering parents and protecting youth in an era of an evolving media landscape.  John Palfrey, Urs Gasser, and I took the opportunity to respond to the NOI on behalf of the Youth and Media Policy Working Group Initiative at the Berkman Center. What we wrote should not surprise any of you who are following our work, but our research-grounded response may be of great value for those of you who are interested in this topic.  For this reason – and because we all believe in transparency – we have decided to publicly share the document that we crafted.”

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• Top Ten Links Week 22
• Top Ten Links Week 29- Logo Contest, Speaker Tips, Finding Time, The Value of Privacy, and More
• Top Ten Links Week 4

Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy from Knight Foundation on Vimeo.

In October 2009 the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy released its report.  The report itself is over 100 pages and worth reading.  It is available to download as a pdf or to read online. If you just want the bottom line, you can see just the recommendations it makes or the ones that especially pertain to libraries.Similar Posts:

• Librarians Play a Vital Role in 21st Century Literacies
• Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy Warns of “Second Class Citizens” in the Digital Age
• KLA Libraries and Transliteracy Presentation

CC image used courtesy of Meredith Harris on flickr

I am excited to announce the kick-off of a new project, the Libraries and Transliteracies blog!  The blog is a group effort from me, Buffy Hamilton and Tom Ipri.  Due to the amount of interest in transliteracy and the role libraries play, we have created one place to share information and resources.  The blog will contain information, resources and  links to other new literacies related content from all three authors.

I will still be posting about transliteracy here, but you will find more transltiteracy related content more often on the Libraries and Transliteracies blog. So add the feed to your feedreader.

How this came about (if you’re interested in that sort of thing). Due to the amount of interest in transliteracy and the role libraries play in 21st century literacies, I wanted one place to share information and resources.  I decided this blog was not the best venue as I wanted everything pertaining to transliteracy to be easy to find and adding to the current page doesn’t help others keep track of new information.  I also I did not want all of the information to come from me, this is an important issue to ALL libraries.  This led to the idea of a new blog, with additional authors, but even more importantly, authors from a variety of library types.  Having worked with both Buffy, a high school librarian and Tom an academic librarian, before and knowing their interest in transliteracy, they were obvious choices and I am so grateful they said yes.

If you  are not familiar with Butffy and Tom, here’s a little about them. The short version – They are both awesome!

The long version:

Buffy Hamilton–Buffy  is the lead librarian at Creekview High School in Canton, Georgia.   She is passionate about creating library experiences for her students that will encourage them to be lifelong learners and advocating for the power of the library in her community. She collaborates extensively with the teachers and students in her school to create learning experiences to foster students’ information fluency and digital citizenship, the cultural capital students need to fully participate in today’s society. Buffy  shares and teaches through her work as a keynote speaker, workshop consultant, adjunct trainer, and guest speaker.   Her professional interests include applications of Web 2.0 tools in library programs and instruction, participatory librarianship, an inquiry stance on traditional and new literacies, social scholarship, libraries as sponsors of multiple literacies, social media, and connectivism.  She writes at http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com .

Tom Ipri – Tom is currently the Head of Media and Computer Services at Lied Library at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In this position, he directs the future of the libraries’ media collections and services and leads the development of the media design studio, the learning commons, and the strategic evolution of media services within the University Libraries. Tom has published in Computers in Libraries, Lore: An E-Journal for Teachers of Writing, and Information Technology and Libraries. He has presented at Computers in Libraries and Internet Librarian, as well as presented at a variety of workshops. He also reviews films for Educational Media Reviews Online.  He writes at http://tombrarian.netSimilar Posts:

• Libraries and Transliteracy at Computers in Libraries #cil2010
• Libraries and Transliteracy Resource List
• Introducing Transliteracy Georgia Public Library Service & Georgia Library Association

Many organizations are looking at the definition of literacy and expanding it to include the knowledge and skills it takes to be an active participant in today’s society. What baffles me as I read through reports and recommendations from so many organizations is the lack of mention of libraries and librarians.  There are a few such as this one from the Report from the Knight Commission:

Recommendation 7: Fund and support public libraries and other community institutions as centers of digital and media training, especially for adults.

or this one in a white paper from the MacAuthor Foundation

If anything, these traditional skills assume even greater importance as students venture beyond collections that have been screened by librarians and into the more open space of the web. Some of these skills have traditionally been taught by librarians who, in the modern era, are reconceptualizing their role less as curators of bounded collection and more as information facilitators who can help users find what they need, online or off, and can cultivate good strategies for searching material.

These are the only two I have found. Why are libraries missing?

The only place most people can receive instruction on these new literacies is at a library.  There is no one else. While some students may be fortunate enough to be exposed in at school, either through teachers or the library, most are not. Adults have nowhere to turn but the public library.  While I applaud all of these organizations for their efforts and reports and recommendations, I am dismayed at the lack of recommendations for funding and support for libraries. It is all well and good to write a report and a recommendation but what about real world application?

We (library people) know we are the ones providing this training. We know there is no one else. I have to ask – What are we doing wrong that no one else seems to know this? How do we communicate our role?

• Center for Media Literacy
• Partnership for 21st Century Skills
• National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE)
• National Council of Teachers of English
• Digital Media and Learning – MacAuthur Foundation
• Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy
• 21st Century Literacy Summit
• ICT Digital Literacy Portal
• Center for Digital Literacy

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• The Digital Divide Does Not Discriminate
• Introducing Transliteracy Georgia Public Library Service & Georgia Library Association
• Transliterate Divide – Working Definition

CC image used courtesy of Leo Reynolds on flickr

My personally selected top 10 from the links I shared on Twitter from 2/5/2010 thru 2/11/2010

1. follow the UK Transliteracy conference here – the UK conference on Transliteracy was on Tuesday, if you missed coverage has been archived on the site.
2. Evolution of the Book – cool graph of the evolution of books
3. The State of the Internet- another cool graphic from Stephen
4. 20 Inspiring Women To Follow On Twitter from Forbes – I don’t know about you, but I can always use more inspirational women in my life.
5. LISnew is holding its first ever essay contest. yes there are prizes! go write your submission now! or read the entries.
6. ALA |Library Snapshot Day: A Day in the Life of Your Library: April 2010 – for those of you who enjoy the Library Day in the Life Project here is something similar from ALA, photograph a single day at your library to showcase what happens in the entire library in a single day
7. “I predict that Apple will sell a gazillion. & it won’t be to ppl who have even heard of multi-tasking” and article from Wired with a nice quip to remind us techies that we aren’t the target audience of the iPad.
8. 5 Tips for Trainers to Prevent TechFail – Technology failure during training (or presentations) is a nightmare here are 5 great times from Maurice Coleman in a post on ALA Learning.
9. From OCLC’s Newletter: The global scope of library activity – great summary with numbers
10. NYTimes: Publishers Win a Bout in E-Book Price Fight – we are going to see a lot of changes in the ebook industry over the next year, pricing is just one.

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In collaboration with Brian Hulsey

Special thanks to Sue Thomas and Tom Ipri for their input & approval.

If you’d like to learn about libraries and transilteracy please visit my Transliteracy page

If you’d like to know more about transliteracy in general please visit transliteracy.com and follow the conference on February 9th.Similar Posts:

• Libraries and Transliteracy at Computers in Libraries #cil2010
• KLA Libraries and Transliteracy Presentation
• Libraries and Transliteracy Resource List

Find out more and register at http://www.transliteracy.com

The full schedule for the day will be released soon but in the meantime a list of speakers and abstracts can be found at http://nlabnetworks.typepad.com/transliteracy/2010abstracts.html

Transliteracy is the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks.  Since 2005, when Professor Sue Thomas introduced the concept in the Institute of Creative Technologies at De Montfort University, transliteracy has been taken up and explored by a broad range of academics and practitioners, from information scientists to literary theorists, artists and writers. This one-day event offers an opportunity for academics, artists, business people and practitioners to share discoveries, ideas, and creative works that amplify and augment transliteracy research.

For more about The Transliteracy Research Group (TRG) see http://www.transliteracy.com

To discuss transliteracy visit http://transliteracy.ning.com/

For information specific to libraries visit my Libraries and Transliteracy page or visit our forum in the Ning group.Similar Posts:

• Reminder Transliteracy Conference 9 Feb 2010 Call for Papers Dec 1st Deadline
• Defining Transliteracy
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CC image used courtesy of Reigh LeBlanc on flickr

As with most things, the benefits from computers and technology is all about balance.

From an article in The Independent – What the web is teaching our brains, a list of activities and the benefits each provides.

• Internet research: Boosts the ability to integrate and process information as well as enhancing decision-making skills.
• General browsing: Encourages the use of continuous partial attention and multi-tasking, which can impair cognition and cause irritability
• Playing computer games: May improve multi-tasking skills, memory and peripheral vision. Can lead to antisocial behaviour.
• Building a blog or website: Building a blog or your own website improves frontal lobe function, reasoning and memory.
• Sorting email: Boosts information-processing functions in the brain’s frontal lobe. Can also cause stress.
• Using emoticons: Exercises brain centres linked to emotion and social connection; particularly beneficial to those who use computers for long periods.
• Tweeting and chatrooms: Enhances peripheral attention, helps to boost self-esteem and protects the hippocampus.

The article includes more information on the “why” or how it works, and of course some negative aspects of internet & technology usage too.

Worth reading:

• Facebook and Bebo risk ‘infantilising’ the human mind
• In Defense of Distraction
• Is Google Making Us Stupid?
• Gin, Television, and Social Surplus
• How the brain hard-wires us to love Google, Twitter, and texting. And why that’s dangerous.

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Phoenix Square Digital Media Centre Leicester, UK

In association with the Institute of Creative Technologies & the NLab Small Business Network,  De Montfort University

http://nlabnetworks.typepad.com/transliteracy/conference2010.html

Deadline for Abstracts:  1 December, 2009

Transliteracy is the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks.  Since 2005, when Professor Sue Thomas introduced this concept in the UK, transliteracy has been taken up and explored by a broad range of academics and practitioners, from information scientists to literary theorists, artists and writers.

The first Transliteracy Conference will take place at Leicester’s new Phoenix Square Digital Media Centre, on 9 Feb 2010. This one-day event offers an opportunity for academics, artists, business people and practitioners to share discoveries, ideas, and creative works that amplify and augment transliteracy research.

This Call for Presentations invites 250 word abstracts.  Presentations should be 10-15 minutes in duration, and can be used to show work or deliver a short paper.  The Conference Panel will group presentations together thematically in sessions scheduled to include time to explore the issues and ideas raised through discussion.  Phoenix Square is well equipped with the latest technology, so presenters will be able to show work on screen and via the internet.

Themes to be explored include:

• transliteracy and libraries
• transliteracy and the arts
• transliteracy in education
• transliteracy in communications
• transliteracy in the workplace
• transliteracy and transdisciplinarity
• transliteracy in action – examples of transliterate works, like digital fiction, networked arts projects, or library resources

Abstracts should be submitted in the body of an email totransliteracy@googlemail.com Please include a 100-word bio and contact email address.

Deadline for abstracts is 1 December, 2009; notification of acceptance by 18 December, 2009.

Further information can be obtained from Louisa Allen attransliteracy@googlemail.com

We expect to charge a modest delegate fee to cover costs.

Selected materials from the conference will be published online athttp://www.transliteracy.com

For more about The Transliteracy Research Group (TRG) seehttp://www.transliteracy.com

To discuss Transliteracy visit http://transliteracy.ning.com/

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CC Image courtesy of ElektraCute on Flickr

Transliterate Divide – The gap between people who have the skills to understand (read) and create (write) a message (information) and interact using a variety of tools across multiple media and platforms and the ability to apply those skills to new situations and formats and those who do not.

My interest in transliteracy is tied to the skills one needs to be transliterate and determining the role of libraries in the acquisition and development of such skills.  Although the primary direction of my work and this blog is tied to the internet and digital content, transliteracy is not.

I’ve been reading. A lot. Reading about literacy and all the different types of literacies, technology, the digital divide and anything specifically written about transliteracy.  My research and subsequent note-taking on a relatively new term (the practice is in no way new) has created a need for definitions.  What about those who are not transliterate, un-transliterate, non-transliterate, transilliterate?  I don’t know, I gave up on moved on leaving the decision, if any, to individuals wiser than me.

This lead to my next issue, since I’m more interested in the skills and the development of those skills, I am interested in the divide between those with the skills and those without them and what that divide represents. I need to talk about that divide and have a understanding of my meaning. Based on my knowledge of transliteracy, definitions of transliteracy, digital divide and literacy divide* I worked up the term transliterat divide and a definition. Is it needed? I don’t know. Will anyone other than me use it? I have no idea. Will I use? All signs point to yes. It is a working definition, not set in stone and certainly open to questions, suggestions and modifications .

Definitions accessed

• Transliteracy is the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks.
• Literacy Divide – literacy divide of the 20th century distinguished between people who could functionally read and those who could not
• Digital Divide refers to the gap between people with effective access to digital and information technology and those with very limited or no access at all. It includes the imbalances in physical access to technology as well as the imbalances in resources and skills needed to effectively participate as a digital citizen
• Digital Divide – the gap between those individuals and communities that have, and do not have, access to the information technologies that are transforming our lives.
• Digital Divide- the divide between those with access to new technologies and those without

What I was reading

• Transliteracy: Crossing Divides
• beyond Caxton – the post-literate world
• Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain
• So Many Digital Divides to Bridge, So Little Time (and Resources and Money and Staff and….)
• What is Transliteracy? Yes, I’m asking again!

*Although the term “literacy divide” is used frequently I had trouble finding a definition for it.Similar Posts:

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