At Random

I’ve been working with students this quarter providing instruction on topics such as plagiarism, basic library services, database searching, developing an information strategy, and a host of others. Since I started delivering library presentations to classes I have found that preparing for these sessions is one thing, while laboring over them is quite another.

In the fall quarter of 2008 I really spent a lot of time preparing for these 50-minute presentations and have tried to emulate the pioneering effort of my colleague, Cheyenne Roduin. I went so far as to draft a form with checkboxes to make sure I cover everything, which will lead to creating an al a carte menu approach to library presentations developed in conjunction with faculty-student relationship needs. Time management has been yet another consideration for delivering these presentations and it is a good time to develop a menu of items with corresponding time portions so I can effectively communicate to students the services and resources available to them through the Learning Commons.

Recently, I read a fantastic blog posting “In Praise of the Internet: Shifting Focus and Engaging Critical Thinking Skills” by Ellie Collier (In the Library with the Lead Pipe), which talks seriously and critically about online information widely (and often freely) available via the Internet. Covered in Collier’s discussion were essential ruminations on equipping students to effectively evaluate websites and online information, and she went on to talk about library presentations that often present fake websites to students in order to (a) amuse them and (b) encourage them to think about how online information can sometimes appear trustworthy.

Collier takes this concept of “shifting” to appeal to those teaching Librarians who are extolling the pitfalls and evils of online information, Google searching as an initial information strategy, and use of Wikipedia in the research process. She calls for a shift in thinking about how we connect with students in the classroom when we educate them about the variety of information available out there, which includes that freely available and those subscription databases with the “quality” information. Her supporting resources point to Librarians who approach information instruction from a student-centered approach, which is refreshing since we are trying to do the same thing at LWTC.

This past Monday I was providing a library presentation for an Abnormal Psychology class and when it came to the topic of how to use Google to search effectively for information students voiced a bevy of trained resistance to the online search engine. “We have been instructed not to use Google for research in conjunction with our class assignments,” one student stated. I pressed on with the Google topic and received the same outcry when moving on to Wikipedia.

I am in agreement with Collier that by putting up road blocks to the variety of online information available we miss out on an opportunity to expose students to various kinds of information, as well as move them in a direction toward thinking critically about all of these resources. I agree we should strive to place student evaluation of online information in situ with the naturally evolving research process. By isolating fake websites from other kinds of online information we neglect to get to the heart of critical thinking and evaluation of information. Admittedly, some students are only interested in consulting and citing the minimum resources required for a particular assignment, but by cutting them off to resources such as Wikipedia and not educating them about the type of resource this is we run the risk of glossing over the variety of resources and online information available. Instilling fear in students about even typing a search term in Google or looking for information in Wikipedia increases the likelihood they wouldn’t consider using blogs, podcasts, open source journals, and other types of freely available information.

I really hope I can address this tension during my library presentations. When everything today seems to be all bells and whistles as a showcase of quality information it seems necessary to get students to consider information in whatever form it is available, whether a crudely compiled subject page on Alzheimer’s Disease or an encyclopedia entry in Facts on File.

Bookmarking for the Visual Learner

I am relatively new to the concept and function of social bookmarking in both my personal and professional life. During my training as a Librarian I became increasingly aware of how critical it is to keep track of resources, group information for ease of access, and be able to get at information quickly and efficiently.

In my first post-graduate position I amassed a huge number of links, which were all conveniently located in my bookmarks browser window. I was aware of del.icio.us, played with it a little, but was very comfortable adding links to categories in my browser window. If I had only spent more time employing the technological prowess of social bookmarking I could have created an encapsulated history of my resources unique to the type of materials and resources necessary at the time.

The ability to bookmark visual items available via the Internet has been severely lacking if not largely nonexistent. I have always been able to copy or save images I have found that are of interest and there are some social networking sites that allow me to grab other members images (e.g., Friendster, Facebook). It seems obvious that if there are users out their who would want to bookmark Internet sites there would be an increased need for the ability to bookmark images. Flickr already allows users to upload and share photos in a web-based platform, but emphasizes image content created by its members. Within Flickr I can tag and bookmark photos I like from the existing member pool, but I can’t bookmark photos available on art, design, museum, fashion, or any other site, which would include images not created by me or any of Flickr’s registered members.

To all the image and visual nerds out there the time has finally come. In a recent New York Times article, “Tag that Image: Visual Bookmarking Sites Worth Browsing,” author Jenna Wortham draws our attention to three new visual bookmarking sites:

• FFFFound!
• Vi.sualize.us
• We Heart It

Of the three highlighted in Wortham’s article I was particularly impressed with We Heart It. This online visual bookmarking tool has the ability to bookmark and tag both images and video content (YouTube and Vimeo only) and the addon is a simple icon located on their About page that you click and drag into your bookmarks toolbar. Then you are ready to go surfing the web in search of visually appealing content. We Heart It makes the task of visual bookmarking completely effortless and simple — if you find yourself sitting at a computer workstation that isn’t yours you simply sign in, drag the icon to your bookmarks toolbar and you’re ready to go. With Vi.sualize.us you would need to download the Firefox addon, which could take time and restarting. With We Heart It it is not always clear which images the site allows the user to grab. Clicking on the I [heart] IT icon in my bookmarks toolbar frames the image in a pink box with the message: “add to my [heart].” Then begins the process of adding the visual bookmark to your collection and tagging the image accordingly so you and others can find and share similar images.

I combed all three sites to look for information on the obvious: COPYRIGHT. I was happy to see each visual bookmarking site had its own prepared statement, which basically said contact us if you believe you have a case for copyright infringement and instructions for following a series of steps. I wonder if they have had any one contact them since they started their sites.

This adds another layer to online image resources available to students of art and design. While FFFFound! is closed to new members it’s an excellent place to browse images, find users who have a penchant for quality design, and subscribe to their feeds to find out what new images they are daily adding to their gallery space. Vi.sualize.us allows users to subscribe to RSS feeds for popular pictures and recent pictures – useful to any student interested in contemporary image making, graphic design, fashion, photography, and many other image groups. We [heart] It has a blanket RSS feed, which updates whenever someone adds a new image, but you can subscribe to individual members also.

I would like to see applied design faculty at Lake Washington Technical College set an example by requiring students set up an account so images can be shared amongst a group, while promoting the sharing of their personal and professional aesthetic. The benefits of this exercise are twofold. Firstly, it allows students to create gallery spaces of their favorite online images (and videos), which nurtures the development of personal aesthetic, not to mention learning from other users (e.g., their peers, instructors, colleagues) in these visual bookmarking environments. Secondly, it is a small seed planted and later to give root to keeping pace with what’s going on in the art and design world. In the same way students are encouraged to keep up with their profession by subscribing to listservs and attending conferences they should also be encouraged to subscribe to these live RSS feeds and receive updates with emerging visual information in their field. There are bound to be undergraduate, entry-level, mid-career, and seasoned professional graphic designers among the membership of each of these visual bookmarking sites and it would be an exercise in critical thinking to get students to identify those quality members and subscribe to their feeds.

Any of these visual bookmarking sites can help students accomplish these goals, participate in a global arts and design community, and promote visual literacy, so get tagging all you visual learners out there!

Many Eyes to the World

At the Learning Commons at Lake Washington Technical College we are looking at bridging the technological divide between students and faculty by concentrating on increasing 21st Century Teaching and Learning Skills. One of the primary initiatives outlined by this partnership is linking students with 21st century, web 2.0 technologies and tools to enhance their understanding of traditional course material.

I was looking over the 21st Century Skills Map and found a suggested lesson plan incorporating IBM’s Many Eyes data visualization tool. I have used the Wordle feature of this online tool in the past to analyze blocks of text and get a sense of larger themes contained in various blogs. As soon as I began manipulating the many wonderful information modeling tools in Many Eyes I started to think of all the different ways this online tool could be useful.

Lake Washington Technical College and other Global Challenge States are focusing on Global Outcomes for their students, which is expected to expand faculty instruction to teach to and ultimately assess critical concepts that prepare students for the ever-changing work and global environment. What this usually looks like is some key assignments that serve to satisfy one or two of the Global Outcomes and an assessment matrix giving an overview of a class’s ability to meet the goals of the particular Global Outcome. Out of the many courses and programs offered at Lake Washington Technical College I am certain there are a seemingly infinite number of assessment matrices. It would be a fascinating and useful process to take these matrices, FMUV them (Find, Massage, Upload, Visualize per the Many Eyes website), and create rich data visualizations that put an image-ready layer over top of seemingly flat, data-heavy assessment matrices. Using Many Eyes also reinforces 21st century teaching skills and then becomes a versatile tool beyond its use and function in the classroom.

Since I discovered Many Eyes I have become completely fascinated with it and have tried plugging in numerous different types of data sets. I found a downloadable Excel spreadsheet from the Pennsylvania Department of Education titled, “Math and Reading Performance Level Results by School,” and decided to upload that data. The information was a little hard to understand since it’s not data with which I am familiar, so I then plugged our own LWTC Library statistics into Many Eyes and have come up with some tangible, applicable results.

• Library Statistics Scatterplot
• Library Statistics Bar Chart
• Library Statistics Bubble Chart
• Library Statistics Histogram

I also did some testing using the Wordle, Tag Cloud, and Word Tree features. Ingesting “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe into Many Eyes yielded some interesting results in the Word Tree feature and, per the 21st Century Skills Map, would be an excellent tool for English educators to use in the classroom to get students to exercise their critical thinking skills and get down to the mechanics of the English language. Poe uses particular phrases and words over and over again in this particular poem and Many Eyes, through the series of visualization features, is able to separate out and bring all of this information to the foreground so students interact directly with these grammatical nuances. From here students can truly begin having concrete conversations with each other and their instructors in the classroom about the unique role word usage, style, and syntax plays in the work of a poet or writer.

I encourage everyone to use this new online tool in an online or face to face classroom experience since it has a variety of applications and can be used across disciplines. The Many Eyes features are useful and can create a bridge for students to begin participating in a 21st century, global environment.