Blinkx was a revelation to me, I hadn't come across this before and I really like the way it lists all the news channels, you can limit your search to specific news channels that you like or alternatively see the UK/US/Australian take on certain issues. If you were looking for a specific news item that you knew was aired on say ITN then it would be much easier to find it using blinkx I feel rather than ploughing through all the hits you'd get on You Tube. They would probably both have the same clips but perhaps I would go to blinkx in future if I had missed a news item rather than wading through some of the utter junk you get on You Tube. I do enjoy You Tube for music videos but sometimes despair at some of the home movies people post on it, the desperation of doing absolutely anything just for that 30 seconds of fame is very sad.
I searched the Google Book Search for Tutankhamun, to find information on the new DNA tests carried out on mummies to determine their relation to him. So I searched for Tutankhamun, DNA and family tree. The magazine search on Google Book Search was interesting, it was remarkably easy to get distracted from the task at hand reading through them all! However if I knew there was a particular Time article perhaps there would be easier ways to go straight to Time. I do like that you can sort the magazine articles by date. If a customer knew there was an article and couldn't remember the magazine it was in it may be useful.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Google Web Searches
This Module has been fascinating and will come in very useful when helping people with reference enquiries. I already like the Wonder Wheel option on Google. I find children especially relate to this visual way of illustrating search results, it can help them to think of related subjects and seems to be more familiar to them than somebody of my generation because they do a lot of mind mapping at school nowadays. People with dyslexia would also respond well to results shown this way.
I decided to search for the term Web 2.0 and got some unexpected results. I was fully expecting Google to produce the largest number of hits as I have found that to be the case with other searches, but not with this search, in fact Google only provided 409,000,000 hits while Yahoo gave the most at 2,640,000,000. The Wonder Wheel option let me down when I entered Web 2.0, although I tried numerous times it didn't produce a wheel. To check the option was working I entered eresources and it immediately produced a Wonder Wheel for that term, but Web 2.0 seemed to confuse it. The Timeline option was interesting, to see how the Web 2.0 term appeared for the first time around 1980 and peaked in hits in 2008. Timeline is very useful for people following trends in certain subjects or fields.
In retrospect my search subject didn't and wouldn't produce many images, but searching for other subjects I really enjoyed seeing the images. Yahoo seemed to produce fantastic images. I have previously always turned to Google Images for pictures but now would try Yahoo as well.
I like the clear press releases shown on Exalead and would recommend this for people wanting information on recent news stories and big events. Bing was clear and easy to follow and use, but I don't know that I would use it, it didn't seem to offer anything different or fresh.
If somebody is studying a subject in detail then it would be worth recommending all of the search engines we have looked at, if we introduce as many people as possible to the resources available then the chances are they will find a search engine they like and can use easily. A lot of it comes down to personal choice.
I decided to search for the term Web 2.0 and got some unexpected results. I was fully expecting Google to produce the largest number of hits as I have found that to be the case with other searches, but not with this search, in fact Google only provided 409,000,000 hits while Yahoo gave the most at 2,640,000,000. The Wonder Wheel option let me down when I entered Web 2.0, although I tried numerous times it didn't produce a wheel. To check the option was working I entered eresources and it immediately produced a Wonder Wheel for that term, but Web 2.0 seemed to confuse it. The Timeline option was interesting, to see how the Web 2.0 term appeared for the first time around 1980 and peaked in hits in 2008. Timeline is very useful for people following trends in certain subjects or fields.
In retrospect my search subject didn't and wouldn't produce many images, but searching for other subjects I really enjoyed seeing the images. Yahoo seemed to produce fantastic images. I have previously always turned to Google Images for pictures but now would try Yahoo as well.
I like the clear press releases shown on Exalead and would recommend this for people wanting information on recent news stories and big events. Bing was clear and easy to follow and use, but I don't know that I would use it, it didn't seem to offer anything different or fresh.
If somebody is studying a subject in detail then it would be worth recommending all of the search engines we have looked at, if we introduce as many people as possible to the resources available then the chances are they will find a search engine they like and can use easily. A lot of it comes down to personal choice.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Google Alert!
I set up a Google Alert on Egyptology and monitored the results over a week. I did get a lot of information but didn't want to narrow the search terms because I was picking up articles and images that were interesting. You do have the ability to manage your alerts.
I would certainly recommend using Google Alert to anybody doing serious research in a subject, students and people with particular interests in specific fields. It is a very easy way to keep in touch with developments in your chosen field.
I would certainly recommend using Google Alert to anybody doing serious research in a subject, students and people with particular interests in specific fields. It is a very easy way to keep in touch with developments in your chosen field.
RSS Feeds
I accessed AccessScience and seached for Australopithecine, learning how to create an account and bookmark articles and pictures. Then I went to Proquest and set up an RSS feed and email alert on egyptology. It was interesting to check back daily and see just how many alerts were sent to me. I did begin to feel rather bogged down by the flood of information I had to plough through. But if I was doing research on a particular subject I can see it would be a wonderful resource.
This was a very useful exercise in order to be able to show readers how to use the full range of facilities we have in our eresources. I expect very few people use them to their full potential and I would suspect a lot of people are completely oblivious to the real possibilities that lie within these sites. This Module really reminded me of the Current Awareness Service we used to provide when I worked at medical libraries. Back in those days we literally photocopied the contents pages of new journals as they arrived at the library and sent them to the doctors and researchers who had signed up to receive current info on that particular journal. It was basically a hard copy version of RSS feeds. This new technology must have revolutionised current awareness services.
This was a very useful exercise in order to be able to show readers how to use the full range of facilities we have in our eresources. I expect very few people use them to their full potential and I would suspect a lot of people are completely oblivious to the real possibilities that lie within these sites. This Module really reminded me of the Current Awareness Service we used to provide when I worked at medical libraries. Back in those days we literally photocopied the contents pages of new journals as they arrived at the library and sent them to the doctors and researchers who had signed up to receive current info on that particular journal. It was basically a hard copy version of RSS feeds. This new technology must have revolutionised current awareness services.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Twitter and Libraries
As information professionals we need to be operating in all of the media that the general public use for their information needs. I think it is wonderfully positive that relatively small regions like Rodney have a Blog plus a presence in both Twitter and Facebook, effectively reaching their customers in as many ways as possible. I have been a "friend" of the Rodney Facebook page for over a year now and it is a very convenient source for news, events and competitions, in fact anything. Social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook are free publicity tools which we should be embracing. They can provide a valuable link to our existing and potential customers as well as a means of relaying information. Really the information we put into a tweet is limited only by our imaginations! Some of the libraries did put forward very repetitive tweets, perhaps the same person was writing them each day? I felt Manukau was perhaps the worst offender in this regard. Whereas a lot of the National Libraries tweets seemed a bit too specific, in-jokes and comments between people that knew each other rather than general tweets for anybody and everybody. I like the North Shore tweets, they give useful information on events.
If I was to write tweets for the Libraries I would try to make them up to date and topical, highlighting the dewey number for topics in the news. Here are some possibilities:
Enjoy the World Cup? Try 796.332 for our football collection.
New Birkenhead Library wins excellence award (link to details)
Special Matariki Preschool rhymetime sessions (link to details)
Author talk tonight at Takapuna (link to details)
Book club chats at East Coast Bays (link to details)
If I was to write tweets for the Libraries I would try to make them up to date and topical, highlighting the dewey number for topics in the news. Here are some possibilities:
Enjoy the World Cup? Try 796.332 for our football collection.
New Birkenhead Library wins excellence award (link to details)
Special Matariki Preschool rhymetime sessions (link to details)
Author talk tonight at Takapuna (link to details)
Book club chats at East Coast Bays (link to details)
Searching Twitter
On the morning of the 2010 World Cup Final it seemed like a good idea to search for information on the World Cup using firstly the Twitter Search engine. I should have known better really, the biggest sporting tournament on earth yielded a phenomenal amount of hits, literally in the thousands with the total increasing by hundreds every few minutes I spent reading them. You only had to read a couple to get the impression that everybody and their dog felt the need to contribute to the discussion, although you can hardly adequately review a 120 minute football match in 140 words! I narrowed it down to Torres, the striker brought on in the last few minutes to set up the winning goal, who then succumbed to an injury. Fewer hits but still in the thousands.
The third party Tweet search engine I decided to use was ChirpCity. In an event like the World Cup every country is likely to have a different take on the subject and that proved interesting. I could see it would be fascinatingto gauge reactions around the world to any major event or news story using this tool. When searching the USA you can narrow it down to specific cities, unfortunately for the UK you are limited to regions ie England, Wales, Scotland, Isle of Man.....brilliant if you happen to live in the Isle of Man and you can read the tweets of the other 4 computer savvy people you share the island with! Using this search engine I wasn't flooded with so many hits, still hundreds, but all had a slightly different take depending on the country I searched. I searched the Spanish reaction and Torres was written of in Godlike terms, whereas the UK was more concerned whether his injury would affect his upcoming season playing for Liverpool. ChirpCity also gives two columns showing "latest tweets in UK" and "latest tweets about UK". For an event like the World Trade Centre attacks it would have been interesting to look at reactions in the US and the Middle East. The tweets are limited by the number of characters but they do give a fascinating general take on a subject.
The third party Tweet search engine I decided to use was ChirpCity. In an event like the World Cup every country is likely to have a different take on the subject and that proved interesting. I could see it would be fascinatingto gauge reactions around the world to any major event or news story using this tool. When searching the USA you can narrow it down to specific cities, unfortunately for the UK you are limited to regions ie England, Wales, Scotland, Isle of Man.....brilliant if you happen to live in the Isle of Man and you can read the tweets of the other 4 computer savvy people you share the island with! Using this search engine I wasn't flooded with so many hits, still hundreds, but all had a slightly different take depending on the country I searched. I searched the Spanish reaction and Torres was written of in Godlike terms, whereas the UK was more concerned whether his injury would affect his upcoming season playing for Liverpool. ChirpCity also gives two columns showing "latest tweets in UK" and "latest tweets about UK". For an event like the World Trade Centre attacks it would have been interesting to look at reactions in the US and the Middle East. The tweets are limited by the number of characters but they do give a fascinating general take on a subject.
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