Slides from Tuesday (9/29)

The slides from Tuesday's discussion on citations, annotations, abstracts, and book reviews is available: .ppt

Blog about Second Life

If you'd like to create an account in Second Life, create an Avatar, explore Second Life, and blog about it, you can do this instead of doing a news report or a reading report. You decide when you want to do this and make a note that you are going to do this instead of "News Report X" in your blog posting.

First, go to the Second Life website (http://secondlife.com) to create an account.

You will have to download the software to your computer (or to a university computer if that computer allows you) and create an Avatar.

The faster your computer the better. Second Life doesn't work very well on older, slower computers.

There is a bit of a learning curve so if you get frustrated or confused, you can find plenty of help here: http://secondlife.com/support/

After you've explored, write a blog posting about this (at least 250 words). Tell me how it went, what you saw, what the potential is for education, etc.

Alternative to Wikipedia

Want to use an online encyclopedia but nervous about Wikipedia?

Go to the library website and click on "Articles & eResources" and then "Britannica Online" in the middle of the page: http://0-search.eb.com.uncclc.coast.uncwil.edu/

You will have to log in if you are off campus.

Last Week's Lecture

The .ppt slides for our discussion of libraries and scholarly communication is available: .ppt

Interesting Video

Interesting five minute video about the changing media landscape:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8

No Office Hours Today

I will not have office hours today. If you have questions you can reach me through e-mail.

Story of Interest?

Copyright head tells House she opposes Google Books settlement

Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee September 10, Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters raised strong objections (PDF file) to the proposed settlement of lawsuits challenging Google’s Book Search project. Calling parts of the settlement “fundamentally at odds with the law,” she warned the deal could undermine Congress’ ability to govern copyrights and could have “serious international implications” for books published outside the United States ...

http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2009/september2009/petersopposesgooglebooks091609.cfm

PowerPoint and Upcoming Test

Here are the PowerPoint slides from Tuesday's lecture on using the Web for research/how search engines work: .ppt

Reminder: Your first test is on 9/24.

It will focus on Library Lingo but will also include multiple choice and short answer questions related to all other topics we've discussed as of 9/22. You might find these helpful to review:

• CRITIC
  
• Information Cycle (we discussed the information cycle but did not view this specific tutorial)
  
• Information Cycle Timeline

Updates

I've updated the team assignments which you can view by clicking on "Assigned Teams" on the top, right side of the course page.

The .ppt from Thursday's lecture (Evaluating Information) is available: .ppt

How to Access Reading

When you are given a citation for any article, you should follow this process:

• Go to the library homepage (http://library.uncw.edu/)
• Click on "Search Catalog" (this is like a database or a portal that will get you to the publication you need)
• Click on the "Journal Title" tab
• Type in the name of the publication you're trying to find (Remember: It is the name of the magazine, journal, or newspaper and not the name of the article)(e.g. Chronicle of Higher Education)
• Click on the database that contains the year that your article was published (in the case of the Wikipedia article you can click on "Academic Search Premiere" - see image below)
• Click on "Search within this publication" on the right side of the page
• Search for "Can Wikipedia ever make the grade"

Library Lingo and Due Dates

You are expected to know all the terms from the "Library Lingo" document for the first test. You'll find the document linked on the top, right side of this blog.

If you plan to repost your first news report, it must be posted before class on 9/15.

If you attend this event (below), your blog posting is due before class on 9/22:

“Phantoms of Lost Liberty?”: The National Security Archive and the Politics of Freedom of InformationMonday, 9/14, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pmRandall Library Auditorium (2nd floor)

News Report Reminders

Here are some reminders about your News Reports:

• You cannot copy and paste from an article and use this as your summary. You must READ the article and summarize it in your OWN words. No credit is given if your report has been copied and pasted directly from the article.
  
• Your summary and reaction must be a total of 250 words.
  
• You must choose an article that relates to: libraries, the Internet, and information technology.
  
• Not all technology (cars, for example) are considered information technology.
  
• If you are not sure about an article and whether it relates to one of these topics, you can e-mail me (as long as you do this several days before the due date).

Please click on "Assignment #1" on the right side to review the assignment guidelines if you have questions.

Interesting Article in the News

"The Future of Libraries, With or Without Books" (from CNN.com):

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/04/future.library.technology/index.html

Feel free to use this as one of your News Reports.

Event

If you attend this event and write a blog posting about it, you can use that blog posting IN PLACE OF one of your news reports OR reading reports (You have to pick one or the other):

“Phantoms of Lost Liberty?”: The National Security Archive and the Politics of Freedom of Information
Monday, 9/14, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Randall Library Auditorium (2nd floor)

Malcolm Byrne, Deputy Director & Director of Research for the National Security Archive, will present a talk entitled “Phantoms of Lost Liberty?”: The National Security Archive and the Politics of Freedom of Information. He will talk about the work of the National Security Archive, the importance of access to information generally and the Freedom of Information Act in particular. The National Security Archive, an independent, non-governmental research institute and library located at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C., collects and publishes the most comprehensive set of declassified government documents available.

Reminder: Thursday through Monday

As a reminder, we will not have class on Thursday (9/3).

I will not have e-mail access from Thursday morning until late Monday night.