From Google Scholar to YouTube

Ways to engage the internet generation

Peter Godwin

University of Bedfordshire

The educational background The Web generation Google and beyond Web 2.0 tools New approaches New IL Programme Content The future

JakeBrewer flickr

Future of Higher Education

Technological changeCompetition

Population change

Student expectationsLearning & teaching methods

Funding

Web generationLifelong learning

InnovationBranding

Our buildings and services say “I am to be admired, not used!”

We have to let them carve out their own information landscapes

Zarin flickr

The content has left the container

Electronic books Institutional repositories Google and search engines Decline of scholarly monographs Open access journals Decline of reading lists?

Web generation

Dates from 1981 Wants single search boxes like Google and

Amazon which give instant satisfaction Find our databases too hard to use and are t

not where they want to work i.e. in their VLE Boolean logic – no thanks! Don’t bother to ask a librarian!

Web generation

Likes collaboration, teamwork and social networking Navigates the Web by trial and error and won’t use

manuals or help sheets Sees research as a self-directed process, which is

likely to be non-linear Has grown up with PCs and video games Used to multitasking What is written down must be correct Will cut and paste rather than read and digest

Web generation and IL

Combined with the Google effect they need :

Help with search strategy and keywords To learn to think critically, and be able to

evaluate and interact with material To be aware of the ethical use of

information

How do we respond?

Accept that they will use search engines Teach Google and Google Scholar as

legitimate sources where appropriate Watch and recommend Google Print as

a source of full text Remember Microsoft also have huge

digitisation projects with major libraries for their Live Search Books

Become Information Gurus and recommend other search engines as alternatives

Quintura

CrossEngine

Exalead

Academic Live Search

Ms Dewey

Web 2.0

RSS feeds Wikis

Blogs Mashups Podcasting Tagging Vodcasting flickr del.icio.us MySpace YouTube Instant messaging

Bleu celt flickr

Blogs

A Weblog or blog is a web page which can be used to post information, usually like a diary

Anyone can comment but they cannot alter content

Wikis

A piece of software which lets users freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser

Allows collaborative sites to be formed using open editing

“With enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow”

(Eric Raymond)

Wikipedia This open content

encyclopedia is the most famous wiki

Founded on trust, and now has over 1,696,000 articles in English on 8m pages!

Content gains validity and keeps up to date through constant editing

Accusations of vandalism, bias, inaccuracy

Social networks and MySpace

Social bookmarking

Tagging and Folksonomies

YouTube

RSS

Rich site summary or Real simple syndication

Enables you to get an update of the output of RSS-enabled websites, blogs or podcasts without continually visiting the sites.

Works like a subscription which you collect in an aggregator like Bloglines.

RSS feeds can be collected on Desktop or portable devices

Mashup

A website or web application which uses content from more than one source to create a completely new service

Podcasts

A form of broadcasting allowing individuals to record, publish, find, subscribe and listen to audio over the internet on a portable player

Has been described as the new “tranny” Use RSS feeds which enable your

subscriptions to bring you up to date stuff which you can then move to your mp3 player when you are ready

Instant messaging

Communication using text in real-time between two persons e.g. via web

What it means for us

New skill sets to develop

FUN

Webchicken flickr

New ways of working

Who is using Web 2.0?

JISC SPIRE project Online Tool survey Oct-Nov.2006 at Oxford University showed :

Wikipedia the most popular across all ages. Blogs read by 40-60% across ages RSS feeds, Bloglines and Technorati all below 20%

for all ages Overall engagement with tools predicted to expand

and flatten off in 2-3 years for age groups 18-34

Web 2.0 and our opportunity We could engage the Net generation, meeting them

where they are, so that we are seen as relevant and part of their experience

Web 2.0 is interactive and we can make our sites and materials more visual and active, e.g. games

We have new opportunities to use deep and active learning methods and peer-based learning

How can we do this?

How does it affect the content of our IL teaching?

New approaches - blogs

Blogs encourage community and reflection, and help writing skills

Create a blog for a course who receive IL teaching and allow comments, and link to subject guides

New approaches – blogs & wikis

Wikis encourage group work and peer review PBWiki and Blogger v Blackboard Can be used in our teaching and could collect

student content into the teacher’s aggregator

New approaches - podcasts

Podcasts to deliver tours, specific information, previews of talks. Supercede audiocassette recordings

Becoming easier to do We can use podcasts for tours and other IL teaching

New approaches - podcasts

Can use iTunes, which allows users to jump around chapters

I-tunes Kresge Dash Library Univ of Michigan examples

Useful for academics and librarians who have wonderful voices!

Allows students to time-shift Can be used in a car, while

jogging….anywhere

New approaches - YouTube

Create our own Blogs, YouTube and iTunes videos for promotional programmes

“Databases” USF Tampa Library http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nik3pyJwaYI

Augustana Information Literacy DVD trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riazxG6yqm0

New approaches - tagging

Use tagging as part of critical thinking, making links which involve evaluation, categorising, and formulating keywords. This helps sharing and joining together of sources.

Tagging of catalogue items. E.g. University of Pennsylvania PennTags

Imagine a Library catalogue with subject headings plus tags or a system that could recommend a reader toward a subject heading…

New approaches – instant help

Instant messaging for quick response

Use MySpace and FaceBook to provide assistance

(see Get Connected blog A campaign idea)

New approaches - flickr

Flickr for storage of our photos and for presentations

New IL Programme Content

The “blogosphere” is becoming like a global brain and is a vital part of online culture

Blogs are very current and becoming a valid information source : a good place to get ideas about a subject

Need to teach best sources for searching blogs

e.g.Technorati

Need to teach how to evaluate a blog e.g. Kathy Schrock

New IL Programme Content

RSS feeds allow researchers to subscribe to regular content from news services and relevant content from databases

New IL Programme Content

Use Wikipedia as a legitimate starting point measured against other reference sources, understanding its strengths and weaknesses

Teach ways of searching for podcasts e.g.Yahoo

New IL Programme Content

Del.icio.us as a research tool helps students to organise what is found with easy

storage of bookmarks, accessible anywhere… assists referencing encourages tagging of subjects by users which is central

to the linking of ideas, and aids sharing of resources.

Zotero for capturing bib records from OPAC and organising them

The future

Use of gaming e.g. Ohio State University gave out interactive game

using Captivate to all new students

The future

Remember

“Information literacy increasingly should not be considered a given….the information literacy skills of new students are not improving as the post-1993 Internet boomlet enters college….in a sea of user-created content, collaborative work, and instant access to information of varying quality, the skills of critical thinking, research, and evaluation are increasingly required to make sense of the world”

Horizon report, 2007

We can play a key role in creating information literate citizens

We should recommend best web search engines alongside intute and our databases

We should now include wikis, blogs and other new sources

We have a whole new set of tools to help us deliver our material!

Canlosa flickr

And finally

It’s a world of perpetual beta so let’s experiment! Using these tools we need only be constrained by our imaginations to engage our users as never before!