[Web4lib] Web4lib Digest, Vol 60, Issue 14

Thu Mar 18 08:08:17 EDT 2010

Interested in #4
 From R. Deion Blanton

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To: web4lib at webjunction.org
Sent: Wed, March 17, 2010 11:00:25 AM
Subject: Web4lib Digest, Vol 60, Issue 14

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Today's Topics:

  1. Re: Academic libs - allowing anonymous comments on your site?
      (Andrea Peterson)
  2. Wikipedia (janette treanor)
  3. Re: Wikipedia (Naess, Petter)
  4. Teens and Technology Online Conference (Lori Bell)
  5. Re: Wikipedia (D. Turcotte)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:22:55 -0700
From: Andrea Peterson <Andrea.Peterson at wwu.edu>
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Academic libs - allowing anonymous comments on
    your site?
To: "'Web4lib at webjunction.org'" <Web4lib at webjunction.org>
Message-ID:
    <366AA6C6662BAB4796FF54F8D8BFC7420466535269 at ExchMailbox1.univ.dir.wwu.edu>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Another option would be to enable an authentication module in Drupal -- we run an open forum for campus called Viking Village (http://vikingvillage.wwu.edu) and use the CAS module to tie it in to our campus single sign on environment, which makes it easy for people to get in (they don't even have to login if they are coming from the campus portal) and comment, but doesn't allow anonymity.  OF course, this limits traffic to campus, but that is intentional.  We do allow users to set up profiles, which allows them to assign themselves semi-anonymous names, but we always have access to their real username on the back end.  Drupal also has LDAP and Shibboleth modules that can be used to tie into your campus authentication system...

Our forum is a different animal, but we stay on top of comments / complaints about the library and the results have always been good.  For example:  http://vikingvillage.wwu.edu/node/7964.  We also have pretty awesome guidelines for participation (see the left sidebar on the link in the previous sentence), which would be overkill for a commenting area on a library website, but could provide some usable content for you as well.

Also, before we had the forum we had a big event called "14 days to have your say" (http://lib206.lib.wwu.edu/14days)  which encouraged people to tell us what they thought about the library, and it was pretty great!  We received complaints and new ideas.  We responded, implemented some changes based on suggestions, and got a lot of positive response from all over campus about the project.  

We don't moderate ahead of time, though we do moderate the forum with student moderators now as traffic is pretty high and content can get pretty crazy --  I really doubt you'd see that on a comments area of the library site, though, and we had absolutely nothing objectionable on the 14 days project, which was completely open for 14 days and had hundreds of posts.  

Andy?Peterson
Head of Library IT
Western Washington University Libraries
516 High St. 
Bellingham, WA 98225-9103
(360) 650-3894 (phone)
(360) 650-3954 (fax)
andrea.peterson at wwu.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Paul Pival
Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 9:22 AM
To: Melissa Belvadi; web4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Academic libs - allowing anonymous comments on your site?

We recently enabled comments on our news posts, and last week had a profanity-laced one that reminded us that we maybe should have a policy in place around "discussions", so I went hunting and found David Lee King's policy at http://www.tscpl.org/about/comments/discussion_guidelines/ which we modified slightly for our environment (http://library.ucalgary.ca/services/library-policies/community-discussion-guidelines).  We allow anonymous comments, but do moderate, and have received only a handful in total in the past 2-3 months.

Paul R. Pival
Public Services Systems Librarian
401D MLT
University of Calgary
Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4

Phone: (403) 220-5650
Fax: (403) 282-1218

This email sent from my account on the Exchange Pilot 

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Melissa Belvadi
Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2010 9:16 AM
To: web4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Web4lib] Academic libs - allowing anonymous comments on your site?

Hello. My library is about to engage in an internal debate regarding
whether we should enable the ability of anonymous users to post comments
to any of the pages of our web site. Our site is based on Drupal, so the
feature is very easy to enable. We are assuming that we will moderate
comments (they don't appear until approved), which is also easy with
Drupal. 

I have some practical concerns about how much staff time the moderation
process (including the inevitable internal debates regarding what should
and shouldn't be allowed through) will take up, as well as philosophical
concerns about librarians getting in the business of censoring and what
damage there might be if someone whose post we disallow makes a public
ruckus about how the library is anti-free speech. 

But my concerns may be unfounded, so I'd like to hear any experiences,
positive or negative, that other academic libraries may have had doing
this. 
Do any of you have anything like this on your sites now? Did you try it
and later remove the feature? 

Also if you know of any studies, conference presentations, or the like,
on the subject, pointers would be most appreciated. 

Thanks for any help and advice you can provide! 

---
Melissa Belvadi
Emerging Technologies & Metadata Librarian
University of Prince Edward Island
mbelvadi at upei.ca
902-566-0581 

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------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:11:06 +1000
From: janette treanor <janettetreanor at gmail.com>
Subject: [Web4lib] Wikipedia
To: web4lib at webjunction.org
Message-ID:
    <d14069111003161911w2a0b064awa10e5c2bbeacaca1 at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

Morning All,

I am wondering what you think of Wikipedia? I would appreciate hearing your
opinion.

kind regards
janette

------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:02:44 +0100
From: "Naess, Petter" <naessp at state.gov>
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Wikipedia
To: "janette treanor" <janettetreanor at gmail.com>,
    <web4lib at webjunction.org>
Message-ID:
    <8497C2544760B949A95A3DA4ACE5E06D02DE1031 at OSLOMB01.eur.state.sbu>
Content-Type: text/plain;    charset="us-ascii"

Here's what I think: (Nicholson Baker
<http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21131>  put it into words for me....)

Wikipedia is just an incredible thing. It's fact-encirclingly huge, and
it's idiosyncratic, careful, messy, funny, shocking, and full of
simmering controversies-and it's free, and it's fast. In a few seconds
you can look up, for instance, "Diogenes of Sinope," or "turnip," or
"Crazy Eddie," or "Bagoas," or "quadratic formula," or "Bristol
Beaufighter," or "squeegee," or "Sanford B. Dole," and you'll have
knowledge you didn't have before. It's like some vast aerial city with
people walking briskly to and fro on catwalks, carrying picnic baskets
full of nutritious snacks.

More people use Wikipedia than Amazon or eBay-in fact it's up there in
the top-ten Alexa rankings with those moneyed funhouses MySpace,
Facebook, and YouTube. Why? Because it has 2.2 million articles, and
because it's very often the first hit in a Google search, and because it
just feels good to find something there-even, or especially, when the
article you find is maybe a little clumsily written. Any inelegance, or
typo, or relic of vandalism reminds you that this gigantic encyclopedia
isn't a commercial product. There are no banners for E*Trade or
Classmates.com, no side sprinklings of AdSense. 

It was constructed, in less than eight years, by strangers who disagreed
about all kinds of things but who were drawn to a shared, not-for-profit
purpose. They were drawn because for a work of reference Wikipedia
seemed unusually humble. It asked for help, and when it did, it used a
particularly affecting word: "stub." At the bottom of a short article
about something, it would say, "This article about X is a stub. You can
help Wikipedia by expanding it." And you'd think: That poor sad stub: I
will help. Not right now, because I'm writing a book, but someday, yes,
I will try to help.

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of janette treanor
Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 3:11 AM
To: web4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Web4lib] Wikipedia

Morning All,

I am wondering what you think of Wikipedia? I would appreciate hearing
your

opinion.

kind regards

janette

_______________________________________________

Web4lib mailing list

Web4lib at webjunction.org

http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/

------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2010 06:13:47 -0700 (PDT)
From: Lori Bell <lbell927 at yahoo.com>
Subject: [Web4lib] Teens and Technology Online Conference
To: ilartsftech at yahoogroups.com, livereference at yahoogroups.com,
    publib at webjunction.org, web4lib at webjunction.org, lita-l at ala.org
Message-ID: <526047.41434.qm at web52804.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

Alliance Library System and TAP Information Services Announce 
Trendy Topics? 2010:? Teens and Technology

Alliance Library System and TAP Information Services are pleased to announce the third in a dynamic monthly series of online workshops librarians can enjoy right at their desktops on hot topics.? The latest conference on Teens and Technology is scheduled for Tuesday, April 13.? Kelly Czarnecki from the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County is the keynote speaker.? She will talk about ?A Great Fit: Teens, Technology and Libraries!?? Kelly?s talk will take a look at how libraries throughout the country are engaging teens with technology and why. Then she will address ways (low budget!) that libraries can integrate more technology programs and services for teens in their library and community and convince their administrators along the way.
?
????????????? Other speakers for this inspiring? day-long conference include: 
?
???????????????????? Dodie Ownes, Editor of SLJTeen on ?Teens and Technology?
???????????????????? Marianne Mancusi, Author of Gamer Girl
???????????????????? Beth Gallaway, Trainer/Consultant on ?Jumping on the Gaming Bandwagon: Advocacy, Best Practices and Current Trends?
???????????????????? Angie Green, Alliance Library System, ?Digital Literacy?
???????????????????? Cynthia Hart, Virginia Beach Public Library, ?Geeking Out @ the Library?
????????????????????? Beth Gallaway, ?Web 2.wh0a: Trendy Tech to Use with Teens?

A full informational flyer can be found at http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/TrendyTopics/workshop3TrendyTopicsTeensApril2010.pdf.
Register at http://www.eventbee.com/view/trendytopics/event?eid=65537

Registration for librarians for the one day conference is $40; for students $30; and for groups $100.

For more information on these workshops please contact Lori Bell at ALS, lbell at alliancelibrarysystem.com or Tom Peters at TAP Information Services at tpeters at tapinformation.com.

Alliance Library System is one of nine regional library systems in Illinois serving 260 libraries of all types in a 14,000 square mile area.
TAP Information Services (www.tapinformation.com) helps organizations innovate.? 

Lori Bell
Director of Innovation
Alliance Library System
600 High Point Lane
East Peoria, IL 61611
(309)694-9200 ext. 2128
lbell at alliancelibrarysystem.com

------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:41:09 -0700
From: "D. Turcotte" <electrum05 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Wikipedia
Cc: web4lib at webjunction.org
Message-ID:
    <e5cd57d11003170841q5ee5e4c3rc04b3b7e43f6a58b at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Hi,

Check out Wikipedia's own comments about using its site for research:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Researching_with_Wikipedia

Dawna Turcotte
Campus Librarian
Northern Lights College, BC

On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 12:02 AM, Naess, Petter <naessp at state.gov> wrote:

> Here's what I think: (Nicholson Baker
> <http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21131>  put it into words for me....)
>
>
>
> Wikipedia is just an incredible thing. It's fact-encirclingly huge, and
> it's idiosyncratic, careful, messy, funny, shocking, and full of
> simmering controversies-and it's free, and it's fast. In a few seconds
> you can look up, for instance, "Diogenes of Sinope," or "turnip," or
> "Crazy Eddie," or "Bagoas," or "quadratic formula," or "Bristol
> Beaufighter," or "squeegee," or "Sanford B. Dole," and you'll have
> knowledge you didn't have before. It's like some vast aerial city with
> people walking briskly to and fro on catwalks, carrying picnic baskets
> full of nutritious snacks.
>
>
>
> More people use Wikipedia than Amazon or eBay-in fact it's up there in
> the top-ten Alexa rankings with those moneyed funhouses MySpace,
> Facebook, and YouTube. Why? Because it has 2.2 million articles, and
> because it's very often the first hit in a Google search, and because it
> just feels good to find something there-even, or especially, when the
> article you find is maybe a little clumsily written. Any inelegance, or
> typo, or relic of vandalism reminds you that this gigantic encyclopedia
> isn't a commercial product. There are no banners for E*Trade or
> Classmates.com, no side sprinklings of AdSense.
>
>
>
> It was constructed, in less than eight years, by strangers who disagreed
> about all kinds of things but who were drawn to a shared, not-for-profit
> purpose. They were drawn because for a work of reference Wikipedia
> seemed unusually humble. It asked for help, and when it did, it used a
> particularly affecting word: "stub." At the bottom of a short article
> about something, it would say, "This article about X is a stub. You can
> help Wikipedia by expanding it." And you'd think: That poor sad stub: I
> will help. Not right now, because I'm writing a book, but someday, yes,
> I will try to help.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
> [mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of janette treanor
> Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 3:11 AM
> To: web4lib at webjunction.org
> Subject: [Web4lib] Wikipedia
>
>
>
> Morning All,
>
>
>
> I am wondering what you think of Wikipedia? I would appreciate hearing
> your
>
> opinion.
>
>
>
> kind regards
>
> janette
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> Web4lib mailing list
>
> Web4lib at webjunction.org
>
> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Web4lib mailing list
> Web4lib at webjunction.org
> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
>
>

------------------------------

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End of Web4lib Digest, Vol 60, Issue 14
***************************************