Here's Some Research on Gamification

And for my final post of the semester, here is my research on gamification in final form. Enjoy.

Research paper:

Gamification as emerging technology in Libraries from jrw_lib

Poster:

Poster on Gamification from jrw_lib

Blogger App

I thought it would be interesting to check out the Blogger experience from the mobile user end. So, in the spirit of experimentation, this post was written entirely* from the Blogger app via an iPhone 6.

The interface is simple and clear.

No real way to get lost. However, the app did not have access to my photo roll right away. I had to go into my Privacy settings and add Blogger to the list of access. When I did that, I toggled out of the app without saving my post draft -- and it disappeared on me. My fault, of course, but something to keep in mind when using the app. 

Also, I'm finding it difficult to place the cursor at the end of a sentence within this post text box -- especially when you get down towards the bottom of the screen. 

Ultimately, the on-the-go ease of this app outweighs any minor control issues one might face. I approve!

*a subsequent edit was performed via the desktop version. 

Blog-ception

I designed this!

This is my blog post…about another blog post. So, for my library's blog today, I debuted a new angle for content creation: On This Day In History. Today just so happens to be Allen Ginsberg's day of birth. He's an interesting literary figure, tailor-made for a list of further reading, and has ties to the Garden State -- all signs  that pointed to Mr. Ginsberg being a viable blog topic.

Here's the link.

 My general blog strategy is to: 1) Be interesting; 2) Be inspiring (if I can); 3) Work in a library connection; 4) Always use images.

As far as content and layout, does this "On This Day In History" type of post work? Will community college students find this info intriguing? Also, how can I improve this blog in general? 

My First Library Interview

Last week, I had my very first interview for an academic library position. Without offering too many specifics, it was for a P/T Librarian I position at a small, academic institution. Despite being P/T, the position would be a full member of the library staff and would operate as the main librarian for a branch campus.

Needless to say, I was nervous. I was also informed there would be a presentation requirement for the interview. Yikes. Talk about "welcome to librarianship." Now, from my past life as an attorney, I've had a few intense (and stressful) interviews. I've been vetted by high powered judges, teams of district attorneys, partners of multi-national law firms -- but never have I been asked to teach.

The presentation topic for the interview was the difference between academic and popular sources. I relied on the recent Hack Library School article on "Acing Your Interview Presentation" for a bit of guidance and ideas. If you guys don't already frequent the HLS site -- you have to check it out (Plus, one of VSU's own, Amanda Davis @iamandahope, is a contributing writer).

I also used Haiku Deck to create my presentation slides. It's a great, free online tool that can really help make your presentations more image oriented. The files are also compatible (and editable) with PowerPoint.

If anyone is interested, here's a link to my presentation. So, what do you guys think?

 

Afternoon Podcast

While mowing the lawn this past weekend, I decided to get my educational Podcast on. So I dialed up my go-to app for enjoying podcasts -- the Stitcher app -- and stumbled upon something quite interesting. Now, I was aware that the Free Library of Philadelphia regularly hosts excellent guest speakers and subsequently creates an audio recording available online. All for free, as their institution's name would suggest. I just so happened to find the perfect episode in light of this class: an evening with John Palfry, author of Bibliotech: Why Libraries Matter More than Ever in the Age of Google.

Mr. Palfry has had an distinguished career. His CV includes: Harvard Law School Professor, Executive Director of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Policy, founding chairman of the Digital Public Library of America, Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Knight Foundations, while currently serving as the Head of School at Phillips Academy -- Andover.

With all that experience comes some pretty learned takes on the current state of librarianship and its intersection with technology. "We live in a time of rapid and transformative changes in the world of publishing, information technologies, and learning" says Palfry.  And librarians stand to "play a central role in supporting new modes" if we are only able to adapt and thrive within these new realities.

Ultimately, Palfry's message is one of hope -- and one of action. As future information professionals, it is up to us to answer the clarion call.

The Decision for Drupal

Current GCLS website.

I interviewed Ralph Bingham, Head of Reference and Digital Services for the Gloucester County Library System (GCLS) located in southern New Jersey. Mr. Bingham has worked in libraries for over twenty years and has more than fifteen years of direct IT experience. Mr. Bingham is currently charged with the strategic vision and day-to-day operations of the IT department, which includes managerial and Webmaster duties. Mr. Bingham was a pivotal player in his library’s decision to implement a new Content Management System (CMS). 

Currently, GCLS uses a CMS called Drupal for its website. The website had previously used different web incarnations that included straight HTML, PHP, and the web development tool Dreamweaver.  Before choosing Drupal, Mr. Bingham had considered using various other CMS’s including Wordpress and Joomla. However, these other services did not seem to adequately meet the needs of the library as well as Drupal.

According to Mr. Bingham, there were numerous key motivations for GCLS to investigate the switch to Drupal. First, Drupal offered greater flexibility for the institution. The fact that website development could be accomplished on multiple machines by numerous staff without onerous installations was very attractive. Another positive was the fact Drupal could be hosted on an outside server, which allowed the library to cut down on in-house IT costs associated with server maintenance. Moreover, the statewide library cooperative LibaryLinkNJ offered tremendous support for libraries switching to Drupal. This support included free training, free to use website templates, and discounted server hosting. These factors, coupled with the fact that Mr. Bingham had heard numerous word-of-mouth positive reviews of the Drupal CMS from other librarians, solidified the choice.

Old version of GCLS website, circa 2004. 

Mr. Bingham warned that there was a considerable learning curve associated with the switch to Drupal. The software required an effort by staff to understand just “how it fit” within the framework of other web languages and applications. Overall, the transition process to a Drupal website took approximately 1 year—with around 6-8 months of focused training. As mentioned above, LibraryLinkNJ offered tremendous support for fledging libraries shifting to Drupal. This support also included a developmental version and server access to build the site before a live launch. GCLS even implemented Alpha and Beta development sites to tinker and experiment with the new CMS before going live.  

GCLS chose to not broadly advertise or use any type of “ribbon-cutting” ceremony to announce the arrival of their new website. Instead, the library employed a soft launch of the new Drupal powered website. After the soft launch, the library used user surveys and Google Analytics to elicit feedback for the site. Overall, the feedback was positive but GCLS was also able to make numerous fixes and changes based on this information.

In Mr. Bingham’s opinion, Drupal offered both advantages and drawbacks. The main advantages included: 1) multiple access points able to update the website; 2) robust functionality within the CMS including modules and widgets; 3) a simple process to add blocks to the site as compared to using just straight HTML; and an 4) easy to manage site navigation (previously, GCLS was never able to construct a satisfactory hierarchical menu structure with their old website). Judging from Mr. Bingham’s comments, Drupal can be a very powerful application that offers tremendous possibilities to a well-trained staff. 

The major drawback of the move to Drupal was the substantial learning curve. Such a transition should not be undertaken without proper training and deliberate planning. Drupal is not simply an “out of the box” solution. The system requires staff to have some IT skills and be flexible enough to build upon those competencies to include the Drupal framework. As it stands today, GCLS has 3 staff members who can edit and maintain their website. With the old system, only a single staff member could make edits.

Ultimately, Mr. Bingham would recommend other librarians investigate the use of Drupal for their institutions. However, this endorsement came with a disclaimer: “you need to have people with IT skills.” As mentioned above, Drupal is not a simple out-of-the-box website solution. It necessitates a library significantly commit to the proper training of staff. Without such a commitment, a switch to Drupal might be unsuccessful. Despite this caveat, libraries can still make Drupal happen. And if the current GCLS website is any indication, Mr. Bingham' recommendation is sound. 

On Gamification

Carli Spina's article about Gamification was thought provoking. I hadn't realized just how many gamified enterprises I have participated in throughout my life -- most of them unwittingly. 

Right off the bat Spina mentions the "point earning" schemes offered by Westlaw and LexisNexis to law students. Harking back to my law student days, I remember both those online legal researching programs offered students points for conducting legal research through their sites. These points could then be redeemed for prizes. And we were talking not just any old trinkets either, I still remember cashing in my Westlaw points after 3 years of school of an espresso machine that's still kicking after 4 years of use. Clearly, this points based system employed by Westlaw and LexisNexis was an attempt to get law students rely on their services and to develop a preference over their competitor. I can't remember too many times that my researching behavior was ever really altered by the points system though -- I simply had to be online legal research and I used which ever service was more intuitive to me. 

I thought Spina's discussion on the gamification of librarian professional development was very interesting. Offering "visual representations of skills and knowledge that can be used on resumes and on social media spaces" seemed like an interesting concept. It'd be nice for an online portfolio to have these badges for the completion of webinars or attendance to workshops as opposed to a simple list. The entire idea seemed like the accumulation of boy scout merit badges in the best possible way.