Indexed thoughts

I’m a big fan of Jessica Hagy’s index cards. Here are few that I think speak to some of the underlying principles behind the ability to innovate, lead, and create change.

What's that you've found:


You've got to try:


Change is Constant:


Who's the call girl?


Locked in the Library:


Follow her blog here.

Digital Experience Manager @ CML

I’ve been without Internet access at home since last Thursday -- moving into a new home does that -- so I haven’t been able to share this exciting announcement until now...

There’s a new opportunity at CML for someone with great skills, who wants to work with a great team at a great library in a great and emerging area of emphasis – Digital Experience. Have I overused that adjective enough for you? :)

Digital Experience Manager:

“Under the general direction of the Director of Digital Strategy (that’s me) , the Digital Experience Manager plans, administers, coordinates and drives all aspects of the digital customer experience including customer engagement, usability testing, design, content creation and service delivery. With a high level of independence and accountability, the position oversees the design and development process for the library's websites and coordinates digital services efforts system-wide working closely with Information Technology, Community Relations', and Development and Public Services' staff to ensure the library's development process and services are customer-centric.”

More information and online application.

PS: Did I mention how "great" an opportunity I thought this was. Heck, if I wasn't already employed by CML already as Digital Strategy Director, I'd be tempted to apply for it myself. :)

Social Media Report

Universal McCann, an international social media communications firm, has just released their 3rd Wave report comparing the growth and use of social media tools across the globe.

What’s interesting to see is how far the US is adoption-wise compared to many other countries. But in looking at countries like Korea and Netherlands, who’s adoption rate was both much higher and earlier than the US, it’s easy to see that G3 broadband makes a huge difference.

“Social media – and blogs in particular – are becoming a more important part of global media consumption for internet users than some traditional media channels.

Globally 73% of internet users are reading blogs with 48% including these consumer-generated content in their weekly media diet.

While not markets are as developed, in each of the 29 countries surveyed social media is becoming a key constituent of global media consumption.”

Catch the highlights from the study in this slideshare, Wave .3

Updated Hard Times

I can’t remember how I stumbled across this, but it was about a week or so ago.

Anyway, this interesting short historical/ cultural comparison -- it's hard to call it a book, but that's how its laid out online -- takes a look at life, innovation and ideas in the context of the digital age. The graphics are interesting to read and interpret. I grabbed this small thought from page 7:



An intriguing way to present ideas and data. If you used this for a group/book discussion I think it would be interesting.

Note: Matt Mason, author of the new book The Pirate’s Dilemma, is a contributor on this “six authors, six stories, six weeks” project and apparently it was inspired by the Dicken’s classic by the same title.

My contribution to deep thoughts …

I’ve been working on a new talk on libraries and lifelong learning and it’s occurred to me that in reality all learning experiences are lifelong. That is with the exception of one…



There’s a longer post inherit in this statement, but I'll leave that for the talk. For the time being I’ll just leave this as is. :)

PS: Thanks to Maggie @ Maggie's World for permission to use this amazing photo. There's some photographers who have the natural ability to capture small moments memorably. Maggie is one of them.

Can you guess which phone is mine?

1.0,1.5,2.0 phones
Originally uploaded by tscrobinson

At lunch yesterday Sean grabbed this photo of our work "appendages." Can you guess which one is mine?

Hint: Mine was acquired through erate standards.

Now guess which one is Sean's? ACPL IT Director.

Then guess one is Lynn's (aka the iACPL librarian)?

Yup, Librarians rock... and they have cool toys too!!

PS: Despritely hoping for a new BB soon.

Mega FFT on cognitive surplus, gin & Gillian's island

Wow! THIS is worth the full read. Just take 10 minutes, read and ponder. Makes me 1) wish that I could weave thoughts magically and sensibly together like this 2) can't wait to read Clay Shirkey's new book, Here Comes Everybody, even more.

"I was having dinner with a group of friends about a month ago, and one of them was talking about sitting with his four-year-old daughter watching a DVD. And in the middle of the movie, apropos nothing, she jumps up off the couch and runs around behind the screen. That seems like a cute moment. Maybe she's going back there to see if Dora is really back there or whatever. But that wasn't what she was doing. She started rooting around in the cables. And her dad said, "What you doing?" And she stuck her head out from behind the screen and said, "Looking for the mouse."

Here's something four-year-olds know: A screen that ships without a mouse ships broken. Here's something four-year-olds know: Media that's targeted at you but doesn't include you may not be worth sitting still for. Those are things that make me believe that this is a one-way change. Because four year olds, the people who are soaking most deeply in the current environment, who won't have to go through the trauma that I have to go through of trying to unlearn a childhood spent watching Gilligan's Island, they just assume that media includes consuming, producing and sharing.

It's also become my motto, when people ask me what we're doing--and when I say "we" I mean the larger society trying to figure out how to deploy this cognitive surplus, but I also mean we, especially, the people in this room, the people who are working hammer and tongs at figuring out the next good idea. From now on, that's what I'm going to tell them: We're looking for the mouse. We're going to look at every place that a reader or a listener or a viewer or a user has been locked out, has been served up passive or a fixed or a canned experience, and ask ourselves, "If we carve out a little bit of the cognitive surplus and deploy it here, could we make a good thing happen?" And I'm betting the answer is yes."

PS: The snippet, albeit long, above is just the condensed version. Read the full post, Gin, Television & Social Surplus. This in itself IMHO offers enough FFT (food for thought) for a whole series of book talks.

PS: Thanks Sam for pointing me to some of the best reading I've had all week.

ACPL Visit

Allen County Public Library has been on my radar to visit ever since I saw the iACPL video series. Today I got my chance and I wasn’t disappointed. The library and staff are just as awesome as I had imagined and I great time talking to them about libraries, learning, perceptions and present trends.

For those in attendance for either of my two talks, here are my slides. I actually ended up doing two different, but related talks. So depending upon whether you attend the 8 or 11 am sessions, only one set of slides of may look familiar. :)

• Libraries, Learning & Play
  
  
• Reality Check 2.008: 7 Principles, Perceptions & Present Trends affecting Libraries & Digital Space

PS: And a HUGE thanks for the very fun L2.0 video. I’ve been ribbed for creating a new gang symbol - LOL ;)

Thanks everyone at ACPL for a great day!

Learning 2.0 completion rates from other libraries?

This request fell into my email today and since I didn't really have a good answer beyond my own experience at PLCMC, I thought pose the question for any other libraries that have adopted or done the Learning 2.0/23 Things program here.

"My Emerging Technologies committee is going to embark on 23 Things this fall, and we’re trying to anticipate how many completion prizes we’ll need to buy. Do you have any data on the average completion rate of the programs that libraries have been doing? We’re planning on offering the program statewide in conjunction with the state library. "

Great question ... here's what I can offer from the PLCMC experience:


If you have any stats for your library's program that you can share, can you please post them in the comments? I'd also love to know.

Thanks

TechConnections 2.0.0.8

I’m both keynoting and speaking at my first Ohio library conference tomorrow and am really looking forward to it. It’s a brand new talk, which has actually been a work in progress since last August, but since most of my available time for speaking is booked out months in advance, it’s taken me this long to find the perfect opportunity to test it out.

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Anyway, for those of you attending the TechConnections conference tomorrow please be sure to say hello. Here are my slides in advance. And if you're attending, I’d really appreciate your feedback on this new talk.

Passion Quilt Meme

Ok… so it’s been a while since I’ve been tagged in meme. But this one seemed up my alley and after working on slides for a few new presentations this weekend, I knew exactly upon seeing Michael’s challenge which slide I’d use.



Fueling curiosity is perhaps the most important focus I think libraries (& individuals) can have. For from the outcome of feeding a hungry mind, one gains knowledge and acquires wisdom.

Find ways to continually fuel your curiosity & stay young. That’s my motto & passion. Nuf said.

Tagging: Steve Champion, Chrystie Hill,, Tony Tallent, Lori Reed & Aaron Schmidt.

How about you ... what's the passionate message you'd like to send to libraries and its young (and future) users?

New Knowledge

After just spending the last hour and half working on new presentation about lifelong learning in the 21st century, I opened up my RSS feeds and stumbled across this quote from Robert Steele via Will Richardson's Weblogg-ed:

"Published knowledge is old knowledge: The art of intelligence in the 21st Century will be less concerned with integrating old knowledge and more concerned with using published knowledge as a path to exactly the right source or sources that can create new knowledge tailored to a new situation, in real time.”

Wow! There's a lot of food for thought packed into this one statement and it's got me thinking... how do we build libraries, services and collections to support "knowledge creation" in real time?

PS: Attention ACPL - Be prepared to see this quote again. :)

Here Comes Everybody (Shirky talk on video)

I’ve been on the library reserve list for Clay Shirky’s new book, Here Comes Everybody for about three weeks now. And, although my number hasn’t come yet to pick-up the title, I can get a great overview from Shirky himself thanks to this recent video captured and shared on Berkman Center site from Harvard’s Law School.

Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations (Event available as both video & audio)

PS: Thanks Michael H. It was a great listen. Looking forward to reading the book as a follow-up.

Free Use Photos

If you haven’t heard about this new Flickr group yet, take a look.

"How often do you need a quick photo to illustrate a point or concept? Are you ever concerned about the copyright restrictions? Well look no further!

Inspired by Michael Casey and his 50 Reasons Not to Change post (and the comments that followed). Tony Tallent and I have created a Flickr group called Free Use Photos where all the photos are free and can be used with no restrictions."

Hats off to Tony Tallent and Lori Reed for seeing a need and starting a group to support the free exchange of images (with or without cc attached to them)

DFW TxLA Presentation

As I sat in the airport waiting for my flight home, I just couldn’t get this song out of my head. I’m a huge Stevie Ray Vaughn fan and one of my favorite albums was the one he cut with his brother, Family Style, just before the crash.

Anyway, enough of Stevie Ray, Jimmie and great Texas rock. My trip to Dallas unfortunately didn’t provide me with exposure to any, but I did have a great time meeting folks at TxLA and talking to them about Learning 2.0.

For those of you in the audience for my 2 hour talk looking for my slides, you can find them HERE. And for those who want a sampling of some great Stevie Ray & Jimmie Vaughn guitar playing, here’s a short track courtesy of LastFM.

Pecha Kucha Revisited

From all accounts the Pecha Kucha Conversation Face-off talk at CIL was huge hit and why wouldn’t it be with such a great line up of speakers? I had personally hoped that someone would video a presentation or two, so I could see what I missed while I was moderating another great talk during the same time frame. UPDATE: I spoke too soon. Thanks Michael Sauers for filming and posting it. :)

If your not familiar with Pecha Kucha, it's a Japanese word for conversation and as presentation format it limits speakers to exactly 20 slides @ 20 secs each for a total of 6 min 40 secs. Pecha Kucha events springing up all over the globe (think Toastmasters for on steroids and add beer) and there is even an event coming up in Columbus, but I’ve yet to try out this style myself or even see it in action.

Thanks to Greg Schwartz, I now have a sampling. Here’s his contribution to the PK Face-off redone as a screencast. (Note: may need to turn up the volume up a little to hear the podcast sampling pieces)



Thanks Greg. Thanks Michael. And thanks Jane Dysart for trying out this wild idea as result of my small suggestion last fall. It's amazing to see how much ground you can cover in only 6 min 40 secs. NTS: Need to try this soon.

A Tax Day distraction ...

I've been enjoying Stefen Bucher's Daily Monster creations for about two months now. He has new book out, but it doesn't compare to watching the videos of his talent at work.

Anyway, since it's Tax Day and Tuesday (& also because I have nothing else to blog about while I sit at the airport) I thought I'd share today's monster #183



PS: Happy Tax Day! Hope your tax preparation woes didn't turn you into a monster, like mine did. :)

Just a few thoughts on sustainability …

In order for libraries to be sustainable, we need to abandon the notion of sustainability.

As I’m sitting here at DCA (& waiting on my flight home) this is the one prevailing thought that I seem to be leaving from the CIL conference with. It’s not that I heard this theme echoed throughout the conference – to the contrary, the theme of change & engagement was much more prevalent -- but rather this was the theme that seemed to be an under tone of many of the conservations I had with participants and colleagues.

The idea that libraries need to abandon this notion of sustainability was made clear to me by one astute and very inquisitive dutch librarian who attended the pre-conference (and follow-up talk) that Michael Porter and I gave. “I think I understand what you’re saying, but how can it be sustained?” she asked in many different ways to me through out the conference, and she wasn’t the only one.

There were others who attended our talk on the use of 2.0 tools in marketing who asked ‘sustainability questions’ too, but just in different ways. “How do you convince management that 2.0 is the right direction that we need to going in the long run?” “Is it wise to promote the use of Flickr in libraries for long term image storage? What happens if Flickr disappears?” “How do get staff to keep up library blogs when no one is commenting?” The answer is simply “You don’t.” Stop focusing on the long-term issues and solutions. Change your thinking and shift the emphasis to trying things out as short-term ideas that have no longevity.

The notion that every idea we plan to test out must be designed for long-term commitment, so that we can sustain it for-eveeeeeeeer, easily paralyzes and keeps us from moving forward. How about replacing our thinking with piloting ideas as simply short campaigns?

Campaigns are ideal because they typically have start and stop dates, measurable outcomes and most importantly the effort is do them is concentrated into a short time frames. With this approach it’s not only easier to test out the use of web 2.0 technologies, it’s also easier to keep test out relevance because campaigns are naturally timely to address the here-and-the-now. So what do campaigns look like? And how do they test the use of social technologies in libraries. Well, here’s a short list of a few that demonstrate this in action:

• Hennepin County PL – Harry Potter images (Relevance: the release of JK Rowlings last HP book. Social technology used: Flickr)
  
• Allen County PL – A day in the life of AC (Relevance: A single day event. Technology: Flickr)
  
• PLCMC National Library Week Foto Fun (Relevance: National Library Week. Social Technology: Image generators)
  
• New Jersey’s Libraries – 3 Reasons Why (Relevance: State Library Campaign Technology: YouTube)

With each of these small campaigns a new community engagement idea was successfully tested. Whether it attracted and only a handful of customers or engaged an entire community, the short duration of the campaign allowed each library to just test out the viability and functionality of the idea. And in that alone, it was a success!

Yes, in my mind sustainability is really a notion that we just need to abandon. For it keeps us from piloting and building upon smaller campaigns and successes that ensure that libraries remain current, fresh and culturally relevant to our communities.


PS: Thanks M for asking the question so well and so directly. You've really got me thinking. :)

Innovation Starts with "I"

When I saw that the Innovation & Change track that I was moderating was up on the 3rd floor a bit away from the center of the all the other conference activity, I was a little worried. But when you have a great line up of speakers and good topic, it more than makes up for the elevator ride.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who joined me for the part (or the whole day). Tony and I had fun kicking off the track with our talk. Here are our slides.

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PS: If you’re looking for the video invitation that we showed in the end I hope to post a link to it soon. Tony did that one, so I’ll defer to him.

From Avatars to Advocacy Pre-conference

Wow! What a great day of ideas bounced around this afternoon during the pre-conference that Michael Porter and I gave on “un-marketing.” And thanks to Nicole Engard and her skillful picture taking, we also have all the post-it note ideas capture on Flickr.

During the break, Michael and I must have had at least a half dozen people run in and ask if our slides were going to be available online, and they weren't even signed up for our pre-con. Anyway, the final merged version of our combined talk isn’t up yet (at least I don’t think) but hopefully will be soon. In the meantime, you can view at least half the slides here from my contribution ...

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In all it was a really enjoyable pre-conference full of great discussion and great ideas. Thanks all!