TechnoShy

For my last blog post for the course, I’ll share one last meditation on the topic I began this blog with. How should we balance reading, reflection and “old” library experiences with “new” speedy technological library experiences?

S., my supervisor in Student Teahing sent me an article from SLJ “On the librarian: What’s the point . . ?”
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/1860043986.html

I wrote her a long email in response, which actually sounds like an academic paper in tone. I will share an excerpt:

There’s no excuse for a librarian to not be educated about new media and to use it in her curriculum. However, I think this article is unclear in defining the “new” librarian and the “new tools.”

The article begins by referring to “media forms of the day” which sounds like a general description encompassing all new media, but then in the tweets they switch from that term to “social media specialist.”  So are we talking about social networking? Or new media tools in general? What is being debated here exactly, then?  I think this is indicative of the fact that technology is changing so quickly no one really know how to define what is happening.

One thing I noticed in this article was how poorly the “tweets” are written — how unclear, how vague, and how disorganized their arguments were. I think it reflects the reality that a lot of writing on social networking sites and blogs are NOT good writing. Students may develop other skills using these tools, but they will not practice slow, careful, methodical analysis and reflection. Google Docs can be part of that process certainly, as well as other technological tools…but social networking?? I don’t know.

Why should social networking be so important to the curriculum, I wonder? Students are already immersed in the Facebook world. I need to speak their language to connect to them — and because there are valid skills you learn through social networking. But I also want to help them learn to sit in a chair and read an entire book without texting every two minutes. (Think of the article “Is Google Making us Stupid?”)

And that’s the end of this blog. Thanks for reading. Goodbye!

I love the Freesound Project! Sound effects are SO fun!

Listening to Podcasts also reminds me of my dormant love of radio, and the importance of radio/Podcast as an information source.

So the question is: how do I set up “sound stations” in my library? What equipment do I need?

Freesound will be perfect for my creative writing unit — we happen to be exploring sound and music in writing right now.

I’m also excited about the notion of using sound files and YouTube as reference tools. Humans are multi-sensory, thus we should conduct research using more than our eyes.

It’s good to learn (finally) what RSS Feed means, since I’ve seen these words everywhere, but was in the dark. However, I’m ambivalent about the idea of actually pursuing an RSS Feed or syndicating my own blog.  It seems that the purpose of this is to broadly advertise one’s blog on more web platforms…correct? If this is the case, I’m not in favor of publicizing this blog. But if I am ever interested in advertising another blog, I will certainly know how to use it.

The podcasting workshop gave me some ideas:

1. Encourage podcasting when I talk to the history teacher at my school who is dong an oral history project with her students (the course is “Immigration and Migration”). Students are interviewing parents, grandparents, etc. How much better would it be if they recorded and edited their interviews?

2. Students in my writing courses could record their readings for posterity when they make their literary magazines.

3. I should build up an audio collection in my library. This can be done for free if I simply collect podcasts…I think.

4. Students listen better to each other than to teachers, mostly. So I shouldn’t dictate their podcasting as much as give them the tools, and models, to do it themselves.

I must confess that writing this blog is about as enjoyable as doing taxes. A blog should stem from a personal desire and motivation to discuss something at length, and engage and interact with a web audience. I have no such desire.  Although issues of technology are interesting and important to me, I have not progressed far enough in my own work in the library to say anything meaningful about my thoughts about the topic. Or, at least, I feel that my impressions and ideas on this topic are too raw to share yet. I have learned through this experience that I am NOT a blogger. I am too long-winded. I don’t do pithy very easily. I am too private of a person.  (And I can’t STAND how many sentences in this blog begin with the first-person!) Generally, I like reading my classmates’ blogs, but I don’t particularly like the idea that they (or my professor) are reading my exhausted ramblings.  I am working in the field, immersed in the practice, and I have very little interest in making public my tentative steps towards technological literacy.

Every student in the 21st century should be asked to blog for a homework assignment. It’s a great experience.  Doing 3 postings would be a sufficient way to experiment with the genre. I don’t think I would require students to KEEP a blog. It’s similar to asking students to keep a diary for a semester. There is something artificial about it. Whatever is written will be somewhat contrived because it’s for a professor’s eyes, even though the informal format is supposed to create a sense of intimacy or openness. Unless the student is truly motivated by the practice, blogging can become just as dull and obligatory as writing papers.

 Podcasts are similar. Like blogging, they speak to the creative narcissist in all of us. They are good tools to use when one is motivated to use them on their own, and have a specific, well-crafted message to share,…which I will, someday!

I used to be a hypocrite. I would tell students not to use Wikipedia, but then as soon as I’d need to look up something (especially historical dates) it would be the first source I’d consult. Teachers at my school print out Wikipedia entries to help them with lesson plans, but then vehemently caution students against using it. I suppose Wikipedia is like alcohol — you have to be mature enough to use it appropriately, and not go overboard the way students often do. Because I believe the gray truth is better than black and white lies, I tell students that they can use Wikipedia to access the references, which are often credible university sources that they can use as a paper source. As long as students check the references, Wikipedia is a good tool. Sometimes it’s awkawrd when a teacher comes into the library with a class and says, “The librarian will teach you how to do research. Wikipedia and Google are NOT acceptable sources.” Of course then I need to correct the teacher, gently. Most school librarians know that students are bound to check Wikipedia first at home because they will have left their Britanica passwords in their locker. So I might as well teach them how to use it properly. Forbidding it simply makes it seem more desirable. Wikipedia is an encouraging source because it’s easy to read; there’s nothing wrong with helping students ease into a project instead of starting off being intimidated. And when teachers tell students that Google can’t be used as a source, they also misinform them. Google is a search engine and sources are what you find within it. You can access J-stor through Google if you forgot the J-stor URL. I think teachers do a great disservice to students when they tell them not to Google or use Wikipedia. It’s like telling them not to breathe air or drink water. AND it’s hypocritcal. Students will catch teachers in the act of Googling or Wiki-ing…and then what?

I’m working on creative writing curriculum, and want to use online dictionaries. Thank goodness for NYCLIST, the school librarian list-serv, for sending me these two links. I have to start a delicious account or use ClipMarks — I need somewhere to save my links…And my computer seems programmed to save them as Yahoo links which requires you to have a yahoo email address and sign in. It’s very annoying. I used to use bookmarks in my old computer. Curious how other people save links. Believe it or not, I still cut and paste and keep mine on paper.

Anyway, these two links to dicionaries will be really fun:

This one is about slang and teen culture: http://www.thesource4ym.com/teenlingo/index.asp 

This is a visual dictionary offering a very subjective, artistic view of words: http://www.thephotographicdictionary.org/home.html

I’m going to create a school library Facebook page sometime, but it’s not my top priority. It will be great when I’m able to put time into doing it thoughtfully. Sharing institutional pages wth kids much more appropriate than personal pages.

A teacher I work with tried to “friend” one of her students on Facebook, and the student didn’t think it was cool. She thought it was weird. I don’t know why the teacher did this; I think some of her other students friended her, and she had all of her class’s emails in her system. This is also a young teacher who I think has some boundary issues. I prefer not to email my high schools students anything except attaching assignments when students are absent. I should just do a wiki, but that seems like too much work. I make up assignment sheets very last-minute and have SO many of them…

But, back to the topic of social networking: A student of mine keeps trying to friend me and I never respond. My space on the Internet is not a space I want to share with students. But then again, I’m not incredibly active with my Facebook page, and deleted MySpace when I didn’t have time to monitor what photos were being posted.  These networking sites are fun, but for whatever reason I don’t find myself swept up in the social networking movement…

This week I selected our first book order for my school’s library. It was agonizing to make so many decisions, to create a collection that satisfied both curricular and extra-curricular needs. But I did it. I talked to dozens of students, faculty, several librarians, my mother, my boyfriend, and called up higher powers to give me strength to make the right decisions.

I lost approximately 30 hours of sleep this week due to the stress of trying to create a brand new library with a tiny budget.

Then I got an email from my principal inviting me to apply for a grant of $5,000 to support librarians who use video gaming in the library. This grant would help us buy  games and create more of a gaming curriculum. This grant is significantly more generous than the yearly state budget for books and software.

Now I know where the money is.  But do I really want to devote energy to gaming? I need to give this more thought. The physics teacher has apparently used video games in her class, so I’ll find out more from her, and perhaps find a way to collaborate… Perhaps.

My lunch break at Frank Sinatra last week was rather unsatisfying. I sat in the school’s vacant basement, which is shared with closed-down businesses, a FedEx, and the Keller School of Management. Without enough time to get a real lunch, I bought a falafel sandwich from a street vendor, and grabbed one of those free “Metro” papers. As I bit into the sandwich, which was only halfway cooked, I saw the headline, “This is your Brain on the Web: A Leading Scientist Warns that Social Networking Can Harm Thinking Skills.”

According to the article, social networking is doing “irrevocable damage” to children’s brains. Susan Greenfield, director of the “Royal Institution” (in England, I gather?) claims that social networking reduces children’s attention spans and makes them selfish. I combed through every sentence in the article to find her research methodology, but it was nowhere to be found. “She says at least one teacher has notified her of a sharp drop-off in the comprehension levels of her students…” (Metro, 5). One teacher’s anecdote? This hardly seems like a research claim to me. I don’t have high expectations for the Metro paper, but this was ridiculous!

As I read, I wondered: how do you quantify “comprehension levels”? What kind of material do we expect children to “comprehend” and what kind of teaching methods do we believe a students MUST respond to? When students stop responding to a particular method, teachers might think they’re stupid, but THEY are the stupid ones for stubbornly teaching the same way for years.

There could certainly be a dramatic change in the way students learn, and technology can contribute to this, but teachers must adjust to changing culture.

The article mentions that the scientist believes there is a link between social networking and autism, since autistic people find online communication much easier. It’s wonderful that people with autism or Aspergers can reach out in their own way. Perhaps the increase in their visibility makes us think there is more autism in the population. Who knows.

When I was growing up in the 80s, everyone worried that television was damaging to the brain. My mother worked for Sesame Street and was buddies with Mr.Rogers, so she let me watch a good deal of TV. I saw TV content creators as creative people, as artists, and grew up worshipping Jim Henson. I think my friends grew up in a more TV-restricted environment. My parents’ generation (growing up in the 50s), was the first to get TV, and my mom didn’t have one until she was at least 7 years old. Since TV was relatively new — and such a powerful draw — people were understandably cautious about it. We are the same way about social networking now. If we didn’t grow up with something, we don’t necessarily see why it should exist, or why kids can benefit from it.

I would like to read more about social networking’s positive affect on social skills. Of course, I believe that too much networking is damaging. And I’m in library school to teach kids to love to read BOOKS made of paper. However, I’m eager to read about how networking can teach students to be stronger communicators (while eating a really delicious, fully cooked falafel!)

I should respond to our professor’s suggestion from last week to blog about the definition of “medium,” and then this week’s prompt: to blog about media literacy in the library.

What’s a medium, or, the plural, media? Many of us hear these words in art classes. What is your medium: clay, paint, or metal? The materials don’t completely define what we create, but each material has different limitations and possibilities. For example, there are time limitations; clay dries after a certain amount of time, and when you try to moisten and re-shape it after time has passed, you will crack the bowl. Blogs are a media that depend on time. Blogs are best when quick, like flashes of lightening. They don’t work as well when you linger over them, as a reader or writer. (That said, I did read an article in the Times in Nov. about the slow blogging movement: “Haste, Scorned: Blogging at a Snail’s Pace.” http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/fashion/23slowblog.html).

I think the best artists transcend their media. We express through a medium. The TV show “The Medium” portrays a woman who is creating a bridge between the living and dead. She is often confused by what dead people say to her, but conveys it nonetheless. She is simply a channel for communication.

Novelists can create such vivid worlds that we can practically smell, hear, touch and taste them.  Bloggers can also play with the immediacy and time-sensitivity of their form in innovative ways. (I haven’t read enough blogs to come up with examples of transcendant blogs, but will soon!) 

Last night in class, we talked about teenagers and TV, and whether a TV discussion group would have a place in the library. I think so — it could be excellent way to teach critical TV viewing.  But who would attend such a group? Television is a form of escapism for so many kids, and picking apart a TV show to consider how it relates to real life could ruin the fun. Kids who are already media-literate might gravitate towards such a discussion group. But the kids who would need the MOST help developing media literacy probably would be the least likely to attend the group. Well. Not necessarily. Some YA librarians can work wonders in drawing large crowds to the library. Some kids who lack support at home will consider the library a home base. They might like the idea of watching and talking about TV. With the right discussion leader, they will develop critical skills in such a fun way, they won’t even realize they’re learning.  

My main question about being a media-diverse librarian is this — when our budgets are tight, we might have to prioritize one media over another. Although all media have their place in the library, I think librarians will have to make some decisions about which media are most important to their communities. As a school librarian, I would not invest money in DVDs of television shows unless they were specifically linked to curriculum, or I was planning to use them in a media literacy lesson. Books and databases are my priority. 

This feels like an incredibly boring blog entry, so I’ll sign off. My goal for next time: a pithy blog.