What has kept me busy, work-wise

My blogging frequency has decreased sharply since the beginning of this year. A big reason was that work had eaten into my personal time. First three months was just crazy.

A bit of that work, slogged over with several other colleagues, is finally in the open. It's reflected in the draft plans for the Arts and Culture Strategic Review (ACSR), under the part for "Communities for Reading, Writing and Storytelling":


From: www.acsr.sg/REC_PP6_CommunitiesforReading.aspx

We hope to build on the existing network of reading communities to nurture a vibrant reading culture and cultivate an understanding and appreciation of the literary arts. 

While the National Library Board (NLB) manages about 100 reading communities (which organise monthly book discussions), only a small number of such communities integrate all three elements of reading, writing and storytelling. Writing, and the appreciation of local writing, is still a very niche activity that has yet to take root. 

Singaporeans could be encouraged to come forward and contribute their personal stories (e.g. with old photos, letters) through communities for reading, writing and storytelling. These communities could be set up all over Singapore, in libraries, community clubs and even the places where we work and live. Besides enjoying books together, participants could be encouraged to write, share their stories, experiences and interests, and even produce creative works in both physical and online forms (such as blogs, video clips and audio recordings). These works could then be shared with their friends, family and online communities. 

The entire ACSR plans (still a draft as of this post, at the post-public consultation stage) has several components, and will be a mutli-MICA-agency effort. The National Library Board is one of those MICA agencies.

The ACSR was initiated by the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA) in 2010 and aims to chart Singapore’s next phase of cultural development until 2025. This review would also aim for twice as many Singaporeans – from 40% to 80% – to attend and benefit from at least one arts and culture event a year by 2025, and to encourage Singaporeans’ active engagement in arts and culture activities, up from the current 20% to 50% by 2025. This could include taking up or volunteering for arts and heritage activities in their personal time.

Source: www.acsr.sg/introduction.aspx

You can download the 50-page draft report here, at www.acsr.sg/download.aspx (public consultation just ended recently). Or you can scan through the summary list if recommendations, here.


There will be some other changes to my work scope. It's not a state-secret but I'll share more when it's finalised in a few weeks' time.

Post-event: Inaugural CC Salon SG, 25th Jun 2010 at HackerspaceSG

Just came back from the first ever CC Salon SG (here's the programme line up).

Pretty good turnout. About 30 people, slightly more? I was expecting only 15 to 20 people.

At the last minute, I decided not to be the MC, as I wanted to keep this informal and instill a sense that its really community-driven rather than a curated event. Told the presenters to just step up, introduce themselves, and speak.

Preetam Rai on "Sharing my Images with a CC license"
First up was Preetam.

Preetam shared about his experiences in sharing his photos under a CC license. Like how his photo of a cathedral in Budapest was used in a Wikipedia entry. And how GlobalVoicesOnline eventually invited him to work for them, after he had been contributing his CC licensed work there. And finally he talked about ideas for "tipping" contributors (I remember reading this in one of his blog post, but can't find the post at the moment).


Kevin Lim on "Marginalia: Giving books their social life"
Next was Kevin, who gave a slightly more academic slant to the evening's line-up. He shared about the concept of Social Marginalia and how online social platforms was extending the phenomenon. Some links he shared during his talk: www.futureofthebook.org, Commentpress, digress.it. Kevin has also published his PhD dissertation at antiCTRL.com, which he intends to experiment with the idea of social marginalia too.

I thought Marginalia was a form of vandalism, if the book didn't belong to you. But with online social platforms, it wouldn't be considered vandalism if additional comments are made without destroying or defacing the original content.


Stefano Virgilli on “Adobe After Effects demo: Creating animated words”
Stefano was next, where he shared a video of how he created animated words with an Adobe product, and where others could find his CC-licensed source files. Stefano opted to show a video rather than do a "live" demo.

One lady in the audience seemed to take issue with the fact that Stefano wasn't using an Open Source app.

My gut reaction was that one didn't need to use Open Source apps per se. For instance, I use a proprietary software, GarageBand, to create music and remixes, which I subsequently release and license under CC. That doesn't make it less legitimate.

But later I thought about her question, and wondered if she was referring to the release of the source files in their native file formats. Would we have the right to license the source files under a CC license?

I think the conservative answer is that one cannot. Because while I may be providing my creative outputs within the native files, I may not have the rights to attach a CC license for the entire source file. But I also wonder from the legal standpoint if I could argue that I'm not providing the source file per se, but using it as a container for the creative work. Or does the Doctrine of First Sale apply here, in the context of software (incidentally I happened to read this Law Gazette article yesterday).

Tricky. But interesting questions.


Inch Chua on “Creative Commons & The Opposing Innovation”
The topping on the cake for this CC Salon SG session was, without any doubt, a young talented lady named Inch Chua (yup, it's her real name; I asked)

She started sharing about issues of piracy and CC (which upon hindsight, would have made her talk into a potentially dull one, since she wasn't sharing anything new to this crowd). But luckily, her talk was more about her personal reasons and experiences in adopting CC.

I thought she hit a sweet spot by revealing how she had tried to sell her music via iTunes before abandoning that model. After all the administrative work involved, she was earning less than 10cents for every song sold (iTunes sells them at 99cents). She wondered if it was worth all the effort in paperwork when she earned barely a tenth of what her work was sold via the online store.

"What was the difference in giving away the songs free?", she asked.

That experience pushed her to adopt CC licenses for her songs, leaving her to focus on "live" performances.

She asked something really though-provoking: "Is sharing = devaluing one's work?"

In reality, I think many people may think so. Sharing for free, when one could earn something (never mind how little), was akin to decreasing the value of one's work. Or was it?

It's a philosophical position, I think. My stand is that if "value" is equated with "use" rather than "revenue", then not sharing and not being discovered is the real killer.

Did CC make a positive difference for Inch? I think the answer to that question is again something personal, and therefore speculative.

What I do know is that we had one talented young lady tonight, who will be launching her new album soon. And will be performing at Esplanade (tickets at $25).

She gamely sang us two of her compositions:


Prior to meeting Inch Chua in person, I have listened to her songs and was quite impressed (even more impressed after learning that she was the first Singapore solo artist selected to perform at the South By Southwest, SXSW, music festival).

Having met her in person tonight, I was impressed by her overall confidence and down-to-earthiness sort of way (and I'm sure many in the audience feel that way too).

Just before completing this post, I've just gone back to her website and made a donation. Or you can consider it a purchase of this album in particular. It's not a large sum but still, she's definitely getting more than 10cents per song from me :)


Next CC Salon SG?
Maybe in three months' time. I don't dare to promise there will be one CC Salon SG every month.

Or maybe the next session doesn't need to have speakers. In which case, it's a matter of fixing a regular date/ time and have an open showcase of CC licensed works, i.e. whoever turns up is free to share their work.

Let me think about it. Suggestions are most welcome (leave a comment!)

Oh, Kevin suggested every CC Salon SG should have at least one musician/ performer. And I agree, so I'll try to find them :)

BTW, thanks to Ruiwen from HackerspaceSG, for sponsoring the space. He said tonight's event was the most "happening" at HackerspaceSG this year, and would welcome us back there. Thanks!

I thought HackerspaceSG offered a very informal and cozy setting for this sort of sharing and networking session. In fact, several attendees were already members of HackerspaceSG.

p.s. I'll also find time to blog about how this inaugural CC Salon SG session came to be, how the speakers were selected (or maybe, why it took so long to organise one, heh).

Creative Sushi: Fresh & "Live" remixing of Creative Commons content

These past months, I've been working closely with the good folks at Creative Crew Singapore (namely Linus, Stefano and Carlsson). Not only are they a talented and passionate bunch, they are also open and enthusiastic about trying new creative ways of doing things.

Like incorporating a "CREATIVE SUSHI SESSION" for the 11th May meeting, at Bedok Public Library (starts 6.45pm). See the Facebook events page or the Creative Crew SG website.

Wasabi Sushi Chef - Fayetteville
Originally uploaded by eschipul

We're not preparing real sushi, of course.

It's all about creating, remixing or mashing up creative works -- "live" and "fresh", like how real sushi should be :)

CREATIVE SUSHI - "LIVE" & "FRESH"

1. The creative work could be anything, from retouching a photo, composing a music track, editing a video, or coding an application -- even written works or performances.
2. Each work is created within the allotted time and then passed on for remixing or mash-up.
3. Creative Commons is the obvious enabler (copyright permission already given, so creators can focus on the creative process).
4. The final outcome is an on-the-spot original creation, built upon earlier ones. And that itself would be released under the appropriate Creative Commons license.

For this session, Stefano and I will be the "sushi chefs". I'll take 30mins to create an audio track on GarageBand (similar to this attempt). Then, I'll pass the track to Stefano (he's a Photoshop expert with a capital 'E'). He'll take 30mins to demonstrate "live" on incorporating the track into a video. The final result, we hope, is a music video.

We will not be rehearsing or discussing prior to the meeting. The only thing we've agreed is to use this  set of audio stems: "Man in love stems". Credits: ManoloCamp. 2010 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0)

Audience participation is certainly welcome. We hope people will bring their Macs, laptops, video editors of their choice. To attempt their own "sushi remix".

The famous dragon roll
Originally uploaded by Lorenia

Just in case you're not aware, the Creative Crew Singapore and the Public Libraries has been collaborating for the past year. The library sponsors the venue for the Creative Crew meetings. The Creative Crew team would organise their meetings, which are essentially mini-learning seminars on using creative apps and stuff.

My librarian colleague would prepare the appropriate book displays, after checking with the Creative Crew team on the topics for the month. At the meeting, at least one of the demonstrators would also recommend a relevant library item, usually related to the demo.

Supporting communities like Creative Crew is one way for the public library to fulfill our stated mission and vision (specifically in this case, it's about creating and enabling social learning spaces).

The Creative Crew April 2010 Meetup

I'll be speaking at the Apr 2010 Creative Crew meetup (13 Apr, Tampines Regional Library).

Specifically, I'm presenting a 30min segment on how "non-musicians" can use GarageBand to create tracks (write-up below, in bold). Will be referring to resource sites like ccMixter and FreeSound. And make reference to Creative Commons of course.



Incidentally, the Public Libraries has been hosting the Creative Crew meetups since Mar 2009. I'm happy to say that the collaboration is still going strong. And starting this year, the folks at Creative Crew agreed to feature musical-related segments. Which is why I'm in there. We'll also be working towards a Creative Commons project (more on that, later).

Here's an online resource list prepared for the Mar meetup, which is still relevant for Apr.

And here's the Apr programme:

Date/Time: 13 April 2010 (Tuesday), 6.45-8.45pm.
Venue: Tampines Regional Library, 31, Tampines Ave 7 Singapore 529620
Nearest MRT Station: Tampines
Tampines Buses : SBS Transit 8, 15, 18, 19, 27, 28, 29, 37, 38, 81, 168, 291, 293

Programme Details
6.45PM – Registration

7.00PM – Professional photo retouching by Stefano Virgilli
Stefano retouched the pictures of well known Italian photographers from 2002 to 2006. Last month he showcased the High Pass sharpening trick. This month, he will focus on other amazing retouching techniques, allowing the model to look younger and fresher while retaining her natural look as much as possible.


7.30PM – Creating music for beginners by Ivan Chew
Ivan Chew, a Garageband and DIY music enthusiast, will share how “non-musicians” can use Apple’s GarageBand software and Creative Commons licensed music samples to create soundtracks — instrumentals or vocal pieces — for videos and slideshows. By non-musicians, it means you don’t have to know how to play any instruments or sing to win Singapore Idol. All you need is GarageBand (which comes with your Mac), an ability to count (if you can count, you can keep in tune), and a connection to the Internet (to search and download free and legal music samples).

8.00PM – BREAK

8.15PM – Finally CS5! by Stefano Virgilli
Synopsis > Beta tester Stefano Virgilli will showcase some of the most
impressive new tools in Adobe Photoshop CS5! Do not miss it

8.45PM – END

"Barcamp Singapore 3"

Preetam informs me that Barcamp Singapore 3 is this month.

Asked if I would be interested in presenting - Creative Commons, Music, and "even library stuff".

Date: Saturday, 28 Feb 2009

Venue: Ngee Ann Polytechnic Blk 27, Level 2 (Teaching and Learning Centre), 535 Clementi Road, Singapore 599489

Objective: To bring together Infocomm professionals and also key people working in the energy, media, bio-tech and other industries to collective think of ideas that can be developed amidst the sluggish market conditions.

What do people do at BarCamp?
BarCamp is an ad-hoc un-conference born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from attendees.

All attendees should give a demo, a session, or help with one. All presentions are scheduled the day they happen. Prepare in advance, but come early to get a slot on the wall. Presenters are responsible for making sure that notes/slides/audio/video of their presentations are published on the web for the benefit of all and those who can’t be present.

Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join.

You can learn more about BarCamp here: http://barcamp.org/TheRulesOfBarCamp

Link

So, every participant is also a presenter eh? Never attended a barcamp before.

The 'Rules' and 'What To Expect' part is pretty clear though.

And I'll have stuff to share. Think I'll combine Creative Commons + Music, and "Library Stuff" :)

OK, I'm in.

=========================
Update: This is what I'll be sharing:
"How to produce and publish your music album online, practically free, without a music production company or distributor" by Ivan Chew
I'll share my experience in producing and publishing my music albums. Will cover the "How Tos" on setting up a home studio without costing an arm and leg; How sites like ccMixter (among others) makes it possible for you to produce songs even if you don't play any musical instruments; How to distribute your music online (otherwise known as 'How to shamelessly promote your music'). If there's time, I'll throw in an overview of what's Creative Commons and why it matters.

Remixed (again): Twilight 2008

Nice of Mongobear to drop me an email, letting me know that he used this sample (from Twilight 2008) in his performance poetry piece.



Mongo intends to feature that piece at the IndieFeed Performance Poetry Channel podcast (in Feb 09).

He's been working on that project for over three years. They will reach their 500th show soon, and have well over two million downloads during those three years.

Wow.

You can find their feed by searching for "poetry" in iTunes. Mongo says they are usually number two or three in the podcasting section (IndieFeed Performance Poetry).

Pretty amazing poets featured. They perform their works with passion (some read aloud, some sing).

Incidentally, Mongo has worked in libraries before and says he likes to keep an eye on information management issues.

[That sample is proving to be pretty popular. Gives me a buzz to read reviews like these. I feel strongly that ccMixter is the next big thing round the corner, where music mashup is concerned.]

Creative Commons Singapore contest, anyone?

[Related to this earlier post]

Thanks to Tinkertailor for approving this post at Tomorrow.sg.

Incidentally, I learned about this "Second Creative Commons Malaysia Competition" held in July 2007.

The winners were announced here, at the CC-Malaysia site.

Strangely, the CC-MY site hasn't been updated after that. Guess there's no 3rd CC-MY contest.

It's a brilliant idea by the Malaysian side to organise the contests. Pity they didn't continue it.

Come to think of it, we should organise a similar contest in Singapore (especially since the CC-SG licenses are now "live").

Hey, is anyone (in Singapore) interested in organising a CC-SG contest, like what the folks at CC-MY did?

I'm thinking "Grassroots style", i.e. informal, amateur-level, no fancy prizes (maybe a little token cash vouchers, which some people might donate -- myself included), no sophisticated voting mechanisms.

It's the idea of the CC-SG contest that counts.

I'll mull this over.

Am very serious about organising this.

Can't do it alone though.

If you're interested in co-organising this (or know of people who'd be interested), drop me an email at ramblinglibrarian@gmail.com

ONE WORLD (2008) music video

I would like to share this with the world.

Music Video: One World (2008) by Ivan Chew is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at starfishstories.wordpress.com. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://StarfishStories.wordpress.com.

Completed this music video over five evenings and one whole weekend.

A big solid Thank You to the people who chose to share their works under the Creative Commons Attribution license. Their generosity made this music video possible.

Details and full credits, here.

Enjoy! If you like what you hear/ see, please leave a comment.

p.s. Thanks to Youth.sg for their plug!

---

Related posts:

• Podcast: One World (2008), 10 Jun 2008
• Paralympics Games: Team Singapore 2008, 3 Sept 2008
• The Creative Commons Connection (Part 3): Should I allow my work to be exploited? 4 Aug 2008

RICE 2008, 10 & 11 March (part 5)

[From Part 4]

Public Libraries = 'Other Organisations'?
On Day-one, I heard a teacher use a chart to explain his school's workflow for identifying, selecting, partnering and evaluating community partners.

His chart had boxes that represented various organisations, classified by type, e.g. Welfare organisations; Tourism Industry; Seniors-related...

There wasn't a box for "Public Libraries".

I went up to the teacher after his talk. Introduced myself. Said I worked for the Public Library Service. I said, "I noticed Public Libraries are not on your school's radar screen."

The teacher replied, "Oh... [laughs], public libraries are in the box labeled 'Other Organisations'."


Why aren't Public libraries seen as potential community partners?
His response drove home the stark point that some teachers (or maybe many of them) don't see our public libraries as possible community partners.

It wasn't just that one teacher.

When I chatted with teachers at the conference and said I worked for the Public Library Service, a few of them asked why I was attending the conference. They'd assumed I was a teacher, and that only teachers would be interested in a conference on Education.

This isn't a criticism of teachers. I'd already mentioned here that initially, I felt little could be done to truly involve public libraries as part of the schools curriculum.

At the end of Day-one, I'd changed my mind. I sensed possibilities, but there weren't very concrete.

And then there the realisation that public libraries weren't on the schools' radar screen as potential community partners.

I sought to understand why.


A possible reason revealed on Day-two
That the morning, I asked a teacher if their school would consider the working with the public library for community-based learning initiatives.

That teacher said, "But what do you offer? We're looking for more than just our students shelving books at the library for six hours".

A-ha.


Public libraries = Volunteer-stint = Shelving?
I'm guessing that most teachers tend to associate "volunteer opportunities" in public libraries with "shelving of books". In reality, our public libraries offer many types of volunteer opportunities.

But that wasn't the point.

Community-based Learning, as I understood it, was more than the volunteerism angle.

I learned there are usually two aims:

• Academic: To reinforce school lesson plans, e.g. students taking Biology are attached to labs where they get to handle actual plant or animal specimens
• Social: To reinforce social values in students or to let them understand social issues, e.g. working with aged or children
  

For public libraries to go in as partners in Community-based Learning initiatives, we're essentially involving ourselves in the education of a student. Which requires learning goals to be clearly defined as outcomes from that partnership.


Predictions in Community-Partnership Learning initiatives
I predict that School and community partnership initiatives will only increase. They must, since more and more teachers (as I was told) recognise the need for Education to be more than just 'Passing Exams'.

More schools are likely to implement their own brand of Community-based Learning initiatives, i.e. there's no one best way.

Also, more organisations (including public libraries) will recognise the value of participating in such initiatives. The typical resources offered by partner organisations would be funding, or resources like venues/ physical infrastructure, and staff expertise (administered via mentoring students).

In that light, schools will be spoilt for choice in their selection of community partners.

Which means public libraries will have to "compete" with other organisations in that sense.

But can or should we?


Why and How should our public libraries respond?
To me, the Why is simple -- if public libraries are partners in Education, then we're making ourselves more relevant.

As for the How, this may sound simplistic, but I think public libraries (and librarians) must first believe that they can be partners -- not merely service providers -- in the Education system.

Speaking for myself, I had to shake off the notion that public libraries have nothing to offer. Or that what we can offer isn't as "attractive" compared to other organisations.

To paraphrase Ranganathan's "Every reader his/ her book", we must also believe that "Every student his/ her Cause".

Somewhere out there, a school and/ or students might be interested in "working with the public library as a partner" (i.e. more than just being a volunteer).


What are public libraries and librarians good at?
During the conference, I heard examples of community-based learning projects that had to do with overseas trips, or projects with grand and noble aims like "Saving The Environment".

My first thought was that compared to those examples, the public library's business of promoting reading (e.g. writing book reviews, or *gasp* shelving) isn't appealing at all.

But I realised we do not have to apologise for what we're good at.

And we should see the business of public libraries as more than just promoting reading. In a larger sense, we are about promoting information and media literacy.

This could be what we're good at.


If we're not there yet, then we can aim to be.

I'd also argue public libraries should promote "Social Literacy" or even "Global Literacy". [Note: I'm still reading up on this concept, for instance blog posts like this and this; this website; this PDF article. Currently, I define "social/ global literacy" as one's competency in relating to society/ the rest of the world, and being a productive member in it -- online and offline].


Practical steps for public libraries
Logically speaking, public libraries should be able to approach a school and explain the "What" and "How" in being their partners in Community-based Learning initiatives.

But no, I don't think that approach will work without an understanding of what schools need.

We should start by asking what are the school's community-based learning objectives, i.e. the Academic and/ or Social aspects.

Then ask schools what their students are good at. What's been the school's focus for community-based learning? Look at the school's past community projects, which ought to be on the school's website.

Only then do we think and re-think how public libraries fit into the picture. Particularly the learning outcomes that a public library and school partner will result.


Learning outcomes from public library + school community-based learning partnership
I can't elaborate much on this yet. I'm still thinking about it. [UPDATE, 30 Mar 2008: Some concrete ideas].

But I do know it's not about "reading" or "books".

As I learned from RICE 2008, it's outcomes like "self-awareness", "teamwork", "civic responsibilities", "cultural competencies", "authentic problem solving", "a sense of community", "deeper understanding of social issues", and "diversity in learning".


Start with basics?
While drafting this post, I was thinking about ideas like students working with librarians to set up a library for charity organisations.

Or starting tuition/ homework help club that utilises public library materials to make lessons more interesting. Or buddy-reading programmes to younger children.

But my mind went back to the teacher who thought that public libraries only required students to shelve books.

Shelving, by itself, cannot be called "Community-based Learning". Neither do we want to turn a simple task like shelving (that some volunteers are happy to do) into something complicated.

Maybe we can expand the idea of shelving to include academic and social outcomes. Learning about the DDC, about it's origin and limitations, and then to the way the world of knowledge is classified, and extending that to an understanding about the world...

Perhaps it's not so much What is done in a Community-based Learning project, but How it's being structured and managed, so that desired learning objectives are achieved.

Maybe we can start with shelving after all.


[Next: PART 6 - "Ideas for School & Public Library community-based learning partnerships"]

RICE 2008, 10 & 11 March (part 4)

[From Part 3]



Dr. Chris Yapp (Head of Public Sector Innovation at Microsoft, UK) was the keynote speaker for Day-two.

Chris asked how many in the audience thought technology could transform the experience of education.

I thought almost everyone raised their hands.

Then came his punch line: "So when do you think this is going to happen?"

His point was the experience of education has not been transformed yet, in spite of all the IT investments in schools (he spoke as an authority about the UK public school system, but his talk easily applied to just about any country).

What has happened so far, he went on, was the application of technology to traditional educational. But it hardly transformed it in terms of experience for the child or young adult.

"It's not about putting computers in classrooms or teaching teachers how to use IT. It's about changing the organisation."

In his talk, he said there was no evidence that IT spending link to performance (and he quickly reminded the audience of where he worked).

It was the organsation culture, the utilisation of IT, and leadership that leads to performance.

"You cannot throw IT to a badly led sch and expect results."

He suggested a "re-engineering of the education infrastructure, curriculum and assessment, and teaching profession" to "put the learner in the heart of the system".

But he quickly added: Where will we find the time to do this? (which I thought earned him some credibility from the largely teacher-audience, whose reality was that they had very little discretionary time outside of the formal curriculum).

Chris thinks the solution is to automate as many of the "routine, low-grade" administrative tasks, so as to free more time for teachers "to think, plan, and network".
(I'll add that once routine work is removed, one mustn't slap on new stuff that ends up plonking the teacher back to square one).

Says if students leave schools thinking that learning stops, then educators and parents have failed.

He suggests that the future may belong to the small-sized countries like Scandinavia and Singapore. 'Small' tend to mean it was easier for the whole country to react and adapt to global trends.

Also, education needs to move from mass approach to personalised one. Granted that this would be very expensive but he believed that "people and persistence" would ultimately make this a reality.

To reinforce his point that the ability to do well in exams did not necessarily mean "doing well in life", he said Britain has more Nobel prize winners with third-class honours degree than First-class ones.



Education is the most conservative industry, according to Chris.

Near the end of his talk, he joked that surgeons and train drivers from 100 years ago would be stupified if they stepped into our hospitals and trains today. But a teacher from 100 years ago would walk into our classrooms and find that nothing has changed (same for libraries?)

It would take at least 30 years for any education system to be transformed, in his opinion.

He'd consider the education landscape to have been transformed if he saw:

• A culture of lifelong learning
• Access to lifelong learning
• Content to support the individual lifelong learner
• A social context for lifelong learning (a social process, not technological experience)

"If they can use a word processor but have no stories to tell, that's not education".

He asked why reading cannot be done in libraries, but have to be taught in schools (well, I like his idea but there are practical constraints -- like, Librarians aren't educators, and you'd need many libraries and librarians. Still it raises an interesting possibility that I might think about further).

Education should be:

• Lifelong (more of work)
• Lifewide (more than work)
• Lifedeep (about community & meaning)

Chris didn't talk much about Web 2.0. in the context of Education. But he did mention something about providing content and the technology to teachers. And that the tools should allow them to teach better.



By the end of his talk, I had this thought:

If we really want to transform the education system, perhaps schools need to rethink about their "customers".

I mean, shouldn't schools also teach parents, in addition to teaching their child.

If parents enroll their children in schools, there should be a way (or even compulsory) to have parents enroll themselves as part of the school.

Parents' failure to attend classes would literally mean failing their child.

I haven't thought about what the parent's curriculum should be (maybe someone might want to pick up this train of thought). But I thought perhaps such a system would ensure that Education is not something outsourced to schools or teachers, but something that involves the family.

[Next: Part 5]

RICE 2008, 10 & 11 March (part 2)

[From Part 1]

I had an epiphany of sorts from Day-one:

Education is about instructing students. And also about inspiring students to learn on their own.

What is 'Education'?
Professor Deborah Eyre, keynote speaker for Day-one, observed that as she travelled from country to country, there seem to be more common issues in education. Like the question of how the education system can maximise the potential of individual students.

Education, said Prof Eyre, is about Social and Emotional development.

I thought this slide summed it up pretty well: POTENTIAL + OPPORTUNITIES/ SUPPORT + MOTIVATION = HIGH ACHIEVEMENT


Prof Eyre also showed a slide, citing the Singapore Educational milestones 2004/ 2005 (which incidentally I remember reading from this book): "Our education system seeks to help our students to become creative thinkers, life-long learners and leaders of change."

The problem of Classroom Teaching
Which reminded me of a criticism (where I'd read from somewhere) about how typical classroom education didn't adequately prepare students for real-world problems.

The criticism went something like this: In schools, problems are handed to students to solve, with the problems having known answers. In real-world situations, we have to know how to identify problems, which may appear fuzzy. And solutions to problems are often fuzzy as well.

Now, I believe the "Here's-A-Problem-Please-Solve-It" approach still has a place in schools. You need to simplify such things in a classroom setting.

The thing is not to just rely on that approach alone.

Day-one of RICE 2008 convinced me that many teachers recognise this. And something is being done.

Some schools have done it through contests or competitions, to allow their students to experiment and explore academic subjects deeper (rather than just dictated by a strict schools curriculum). Some schools do it through Service Learning or Community-based Progammes.

Nan Hua High School's Community Programmes
I attended the presentation from Nan Hua High School, where they shared their approach and experience in implementing their Community Programmes. They've set up a Partnership Committee, whose approach is to tap on partners' resources and expertise, while they focus on pedegogy (makes so much sense, doesn't it?)

They have also moved from just a Community Involvement Programme (CIP) to what they call a Community Leaders Programme (CLP). I wondered if their Community Partnership progammes have resulted in attitude or behavioural changes among their students. Would be an interesting study, I'm sure.

I was impressed by their "International Immersion Programme", where they aimed to "prepare students for a global community" and to develop "cultural intelligences" in their students. Students get to travel overseas, on supervised trips planned by the school. Upon returning, the students write a report and present their learning points to other students.

Their International Immersion Programme started in 2003, with a long term goal of enabling every student to have gone for at least one overseas learning programme, within their four years with the school. And they said the school has recently achieved this goal.

Wow.

During Q&A, I asked if it meant every student had a chance to go overseas. The teacher said, Yes. They send students in the third year (our of four). I think they have been able to do this with some funding scheme that paid half of the expenses.

Nan Hua High also host camps in Singapore, attended by international students. They've set up a Tourism Club, with their students conducting local heritage tours. When overseas dignitaries visit their school, some of their students get to plan and execute the event, even writing speeches for their school principal to deliver.

More than Exams
The teachers I met at the conference recognise that 'education' does not stop with exams or is something that's only achieved in schools. I was told that some schools are moving away from using examination results as the main benchmark.

The flip side, I realised, is that school-life is no longer as simple as it once was.

Students are not only expected to do well not only for exams, but also to do well in non-examinable areas like co-curricula activities, and taking part in community work. Hence the cause for complaints by some that students in Singapore have no time for themselves outside of school.

But I say life tomorrow is never as simple as it was yesterday.

Besides, I think the fault lies with some parents who continue to emphasise solely on exam results. I was told how some parents would hound the teacher if their child does badly in the exams.

I digress, of course.

I suppose one way to educate parents is to make them partners in the child's education. I know teachers have meet-the-parent sessions. But I'm thinking about something even more structured, like the Community-Partnership model.

Maybe each school should set up a Parent-Partnership Committee.

You not only give the child an education, but you also educate the parent in the process.


What is 'Education' again?
While reflecting on Day-one, I went back to the equation from Prof Eyre:
POTENTIAL + OPPORTUNITIES/ SUPPORT + MOTIVATION = HIGH ACHIEVEMENT

There's no "Exam" in the equation. Implied in "Achievement" perhaps. Which means "Achievement" is more than just good academic results.

The Singapore Education System is something that some Singaporean armchair critics like to take pot-shots at. Not that there isn't any legitimate cause for complaints. Our Education System isn't perfect. But which system is?

Hearing from, and speaking to, the teachers at the conference, I'm convinced change is in already in the air.

It's gradual. But it's there.

One question I had was, "How can public libraries be an integral part of that change?"

It's a question that I intend to address in a subsequent post.


[Next: Part 3]

RICE 2008, 10 & 11 March (part 1)

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the conference.

RICE 2008 - Raffles International Conference on Education. The "Raffles" part being the name of the Junior College organising the two-day event (10 & 11 Mar 2008).

Two months earlier, Adrian and I chatted online about what he did in school as a teacher, and what I did with my projects in the public library. Both concerned youths.

Adrian then pointed me to the conference website. Said I should submit what I'd shared as a paper for consideration.

At that time I doubted if what I had to share had relevance to the conference theme of "Interweaving Curriculum and Community".

Our public libraries worked with schools for outreach events, visits to the library, information literacy workshops etc. But to date (at least in my last 12 years), no school ever weaved their curriculum with the public library service.

Years back, I remember discussing with some teachers on the possibility of doing so. To cut a long story short, that sort of integration never happened.

I accepted it as the reality of the education system in Singapore. The teachers simply had no time. The school curriculum was too jammed packed. Teachers moved in and out of schools too frequently to establish any long term understanding and relations.

My doubt about the conference was also from my lack of feasible ideas on how public library services could be integrated with school curriculum (schools in Singapore generally have their own libraries -- well funded and supported too).

I was skeptical, I even told Adrian. Probably a futile exercise in submitting the paper, I'd thought.

Still, he was adamant that I send the Abstract in. So I checked with my boss. OK, go ahead. I submitted the Abstract* (barely meeting the submission deadline and giving Adrian grief in the process, heh). A week later, I was told the abstract was accepted.

But I had doubts, both in my capacity as a presenter and a participant.

Doubtful of whether my presentation could make a connection with the teachers. And doubtful that I'd learn anything new from the conference.

It was one of those instances when my mind was closed to possibilities.

(Reflecting upon it now, I'm reminded of this bumper sticker I saw in SF: Minds are like parachutes. They work best when open.

I should've known better).

I was jaded, perhaps. From too many lackluster and superficial networking sessions at conferences. The kind where people would say "We Must Meet To Discuss More" but will eventually and conveniently forget after the event.

But after Day-one of the conference, I was glad I'd signed up.

For the first time in a long while, I'd actually enjoyed myself at a conference.

Where I met and got to know new kakis like Thomas and Cheng Puay (we hit off right away, leading me to call us The Bacteria Boys... sounds childish but hey, the best form of Education is Play!)


After we'd all gone home on Day-One, Siva had already blogged about it. I was tempted to do so, but I needed time to organise my thoughts properly.

I was tired. But happily so.

The 30-minute presentation format worked quite well (although the downside was I'd missed the presentations by Thomas, Siva, Adrian and Cheng Puay 'cos we were presenting at the same time slots for concurrent sessions. Wished I was there when Adrian whipped out his Mer-dog drawing in a midst of his presentation).

I'm not sure what the participants thought about my presentation. Personally I was happy with what I shared. The room was full. I might have made some sense to at least two or three teachers (out of maybe 40) in the classroom.

My presentation covered how the public library experimented with Instant Messaging and blogs for Teens Programming. The learning points from infusing IT, the idea of "Global Connectedness", and the concept of "Teen Expressions". I gave examples from events that started in 2005, continued in 2006, and refined in 2007 (I should blog about that soon). And I invited teachers to work with the library on possible projects hopefully in the near future.

Hanging out with Siva, Cheng Puay, Adrian and Thomas during break time was like comedy hour between the seriousness of the speeches.

I walked away with a positive attitude from each presentation by teachers. I believed they were representative of a shift in thinking in schools -- on what is Education Vs. Instruction.

Day-two came and went.

At the end of it all, after everything was packed and the conference venue deserted, Adrian gave me a lift in his car. We stopped by a cafe. I treated him to coffee.

I didn't tell him why. He probably thought it was a buddy-thing. Which was.

But in truth, it was a quiet Thank You.

For presenting a chance for me to learn something new.

And having fun in the process.

[Next: Part 2]
--

* The Abstract of my presentation at RICE 2008:

"Changing the World, One Friend At A Time: Infusing Digital Media and "Global Connectedness" in the Public Library Teen Programming" Teenagers (13 to 19 years) are an important user segment to the Public Library. They are also one of the most challenging user groups to reach, as the typical delivering modes for programmes ( e.g. talks and lectures) do not appeal to them. Since 2004, the Public Library has experimented with using digital mediums like blogs and Instant Messenging as part of the programmes and activities for teens and young people. The strategy was to leverage on teens being IT savvy, as well as infusing the element of "Global-connectedness", so that programmes for teens are genuinely appealing, relevant and meaningful. In addition, the library also actively publicised and sought to involve teens overseas, though various overseas partners. The paper will include case studies that involved Singaporean teens and those from other countries. For example, the "Pseudo Book Club", a reading group managed and facilitated by teens. Another example would be a Teen Online Chat event, where 57 teens from Singapore and Germany participated in online chat sessions in their respective countries and timezones. Singaporean teens were able to showcase their creativity and multimedia skills by presenting the Singapore sights and sounds to their German peers. The paper will share the practical aspects of using digital/ new media as part of the programme, as well as learning points from implementing events that cover different time zones. It will also share some future plans on using this particular programming approach for teens.

Songcraft Songwriting Circle meetup: Audio Clips

[From previous post; see also Jeremy's blog post of the event]

At the 1st Songcraft meet-up, I'd recorded most of the discussions and proceedings. Then spent two days editing them for brevity. I've posted them in their original sequence. Enjoy!

BTW, they've recently set up a googlegroup mailing list (feel free to sign up, to receive alerts for their next meetup).



1) Round of introductions 2:58 mins - Listen/ download at archive.org.

• Introductions by Chin Hon, George, Justin, Marcel, Ivan, Sanny, Betty, Hui Leng, and Jeremy.
• 1"06 min: Jeremy elaborates on how the session would be run. He says he wasn't sure how things will turn out. Ends by saying, "I don't think we will take very long tonight". Well Jeremy, everyone stayed from 7.30pm to 10pm. Then half the group chatted over ice-cream and drinks until 11.45pm. I'd call that a good session.

2) Music from the Rambling Librarian - Jeremy got me to start the ball rolling by sharing these pieces:

• Lady of Shalott 2:51 mins - Listen/ download from odeo.com (see this post also)
• We Stand Unbroken (2007) 3:39 mins - Listen/ download from odeo.com
• White Nights 3:41 mins - Listen/ download from odeo.com (told them about how the Mash-up was done with Vanessa)
• I also verbally described my "home studio", which I've posted pictures and text separately here.
  

3) Betty plays like Enya (at least to me!)
Darn it! This was the one part that didn't get recorded. My MP3 recorder ran out of disk space. A pity, 'cos I really liked Betty's piece. Very "new age". Some of us said it sounded like Enya. Betty seemed aghast at that remark, for some reason, heh. Must attend the next session to get a recording of her piece!


4) Marcel presented three songs. He sounded good even with a sore throat.

1. "Jazzy Love Song" 2:28 mins - listen/ download at archive.org
2. His second slightly bluesy "feel good" song 3:20 mins - listen/ download at archive.org
3. The Story Ends 4:47 mins- listen/ download at archive.org
• Marcel's piece has really powerful lyrics. He said it's about how terrorism affects people's lives.
• 2"45 min: Upon request, Marcel reads aloud the lyrics from the song. Good stuff. No wonder he writes for a living :)

4) Sanny reads a poem 0:49 min - listen/ download at archive.org

• I think she said the poem was by Felix Cheong, which she hopes to make into a song one day.

5) Hui Leng's piano pieces - Listen/ download at archive.org:

• Song #1 (2:08 mins)
• Song #2 (1:35 mins)

Hui Leng's trained in classical piano. I joked that she must watch a lot of Korean Drama serials, 'cos they sound very much like the soundtracks. It's nice in any case.


6) Chin Hon's "Carmen" (ver A) 4:24 mins - Listen/ download from archive.org:

• Chin Hon was the surprise of the evening. He decided to brave the eight of us and perform his piece.
  
• 00'00 min - 00"54 min: Chin Hon shares what inspired him to write his song. He said he had to "try to find a way to email this song to her". Now he can :)
• 00"55 min - 2"38 min: Starts playing his song followed by a discussion. There's a false start, but hey, all part of the discussion. Jeremy suggested this song needed a solo.
• 3"30 min - Jeremy played an excerpt from the original musical, "Think of Me" (?) (I've not heard the song before, so that helped me 'see' how Chin Hon developed his song).

Chin Hon's Carmen (ver B) 2:34 mins - Listen/ download from archive.org.

• Second attempt at Chin Hon's song. I played the guitar, to let Chin Hon concentrate on the vocal part. Additional guitar by Marcel; with Jeremy on Piano. Concert-quality stuff, imho :)

Not bad for three hour's work. Their ages were around 25 to 27. I'm easily 5 to 8 years older than these youngsters. They had a crack about my age, heh.

BTW, only three were trained on the classical piano. The rest were largely self-taught. Not everyone played or sang. They didn't have to.


Singaporeans may not have anything "uniquely Singaporean" to offer musically, but music is music. If it moves you, then it works.

Songcraft - Singapore's Songwriting Circle

I've attended writing circles before, but never for a music-related one. So when I learned of Songcraft, set up by a Singaporean no less, I was really curious.

Nine people (including myself) turned up at the Substation for the meetup yesterday evening, on 27 Apr 2007, 7.30pm. Most learned about the group via the Songcraft blog.

For more information on the participants, click on the image to view the notes at Flickr.com

The Songwriting circle was exactly like a Writer's Circle. You come prepared to share your songs and/ or listen to others and give constructive suggestions. Or just sit back and hear what others have to sing or say.

Jeremy did a fine job facilitating the session. The group laughed when he shared how he would be asking probing questions.

I was quite surprised that most didn't record and edit their music using computers. Not all were familiar with Creative Commons concept.

I've recorded some of the pieces and discussion from the session. Will post them soon. I think it was Betty or Sanny (two sisters who turned up) who asked what sort of recording equipment I used. I'll post something up on that as well.

How did I learn about Songcraft in the first place?
It was about a week after the launch of the Social Media Directory. I noticed a new entry for a group blog called Songcraft, a Songwriting Circle. Intrigued by the purpose of the group, I contacted the guy who started it, Jeremy Yew.

After a few emails, I invited him to join a screening of the Homegrown Bands documentary (that I'd arranged for the Friends of Yesterday.sg at library@esplanade).

At our first face-to-face meeting at EPCL, Jeremy said he wasn't sure what to make of the Songwriting Circle. The group hasn't really started but he'd arrange for it to happen. He'd expressed some doubts as to whether the group would take off at all.

I remember telling him that so long one stranger turned up for the session, it would have been a success.

Someone's got to do it first
So Jeremy paid for a room for three hours. He also brought a synthesizer, an amp, and a guitar. By 8pm, nine people had turned up. Five of them were new to him. I'd say that's pretty good for an event that was only advertised via his currently rather low-key Songcraft blog.

He's obviously happy about the first meetup. Heh.

My interest in Songcraft
I'm interested in their group because (1) of my own personal musical hobby, and (2) there's a good collaborative opportunity here between a group like theirs and library@esplanade. Definitely along the same lines as what the library can do for groups like the recent Ruby Brigade meetup.

Now that I've attended their first meeting, I'm even more convinced something can be worked out. Will be talking to the manager of the library and my colleagues to work out the details.

Post event reflections: Singapore Ruby Brigade Meetup at CLL

[See previous post: Singapore Ruby Brigade Meetup at CLL, 18 Apr 2007]

• "How many lines of code to patch to make KRJS work?"
• "Have the affected the codes?"
• "Any one here does test development? How do you manage without Hpricot Forms?"
• "What have you been using FX Ruby for?"
• "Why are we letting the Phython people sit in front?" [Laughter]
• "Was it complicated to understand the Flickr API?"

I didn't understand a word. But it didn't matter. I learned what I sought to discover. One of which was, "What makes this community tick?"


I would describe the participants as a group of like-minded individuals interested in learning and sharing what they know about Ruby On Rails.

One guy patiently explained, in a nutshell, what Ruby on Rails was. So now I know 'Ruby' is a programming language (like Java and C++). And Rails is a... framework.

I think.

Here's Choon Keat sharing tips on performing functional tests on code written using Ruby.


He showed lots of code.


And more code.


He ended his presentation by asking if anyone was lost. The room remained silent. I had the feeling I wasn't the only person who's lost. Heck, I wasn't even with him in the first place (I said this to Choon Keat and he laughed good naturedly).

That's the whole point of the Ruby Brigade meetups. Ruby isn't something taught in schools. At least not yet.

It's a Learning Community for people into Ruby on Rails. It's an informal classroom. It's organised by the community, led by the community, for the community.

Sausheong presented on something I didn't quite catch.


Then he showed this neat screen-saver program he wrote using Ruby. It pulls images from Flickr.com. Now that, I get! But it runs only on Windows though. :|

After that, there was the familiar networking geek-bonding sessions (just kidding).


And ideas being propagated.



Not everyone was into software development, as I learned during the self-introduction session. Not all were experts. Seven people raised their hands when Douglas asked who were using Rails full-time. The rest seemed to say they were "playing with it".

These people who have learned Java (some of them anyway) and are now adopting Ruby/ Rails.

Lets see... there was a Software developer, Systems Integrator, a few Programmers, a Web designer, an owner of a software company (who teaches inmates in Changi Prison!), someone who's starting an email portal (and considering if he should adopt Ruby), a freelance PHP programmer, one guy who's been "playing around with Ruby for three years and taking up Rails", a Java programmer, a self-confessed "recovering Javaholic", and another who said he was a "reformed PHP programmer" and passing through Singapore. One guy said he was there to see if Ruby was something he needed to learn. One fella into Jango, another guy working on internet project (not a programmer), more freelancer programmers (projects for SMEs), one full-time Rail developer (Choon Keat), and a Web developer in a design company (Douglas).

The word "guy" comes up quite a bit, doesn't it? :)

Another fella made an even deeper impression. He introduced himself as "Mohan", from Chennai, India. He arrived in Singapore only two days ago. First time in Singapore. Working for a financial company here. While in India, he was searching for information about Ruby/ Rails. Found his way to the Googlegroup, where he learned about the meetup. And so there he's was, at the meetup, on his second day in Singapore, in the library for the first time.

Nice chap, that Mohan. He arrived early. Helped set up the notice board, and even collected it back at the end of the session. I told him about he can sign up as a library member. I think he'll get a lot out of the public libraries here.

So...

The main question in my mind was, "Do they need the library for their activities?"

I counted about 30 people in the room. Choon Keat said they usually didn't get such a turnout. Their previous meetings were at coffee joints, so presentations like tonight wasn't possible. These guys were sharing stuff that isn't taught formally. And Ruby is something that's apparently gaining ground among developers and programmers.

Apart from providing the venue and facilities, the library can supporting their sessions with books and related materials. And who better to recommend related books to such a community than the practitioners themselves. This group can easily be an informal advisory panel to the library in selecting related Computer & IT materials for the collection.

I told the group there's a definite possibility that the library could work out some regular arrangement to facilitate a learning community like theirs. I'm pretty clear on how it fits the library's 2010 plans. Now I've to think of ways (with the help from this community of course) to convince my colleagues why we should do this.

Either that, or start a dating service for some of these guys! Just kidding, fellas.

Web Standards Group (WebSG) Singapore Meetup #2

Around 35 people turned up at tonight's Web Standards Singapore Meetup #2, held at the Central Lending Library. I didn't do a count for the first meetup. Seems to have more people this time round (I didn't see the two teenaged students though). During the presentations, there was a quiet, even subdued, atmosphere. But the brains were churning, judging from the spontaneous questions and comments during Q&A.

My personal notes from the presentations:

1) “Reality check: Beyond the hype of web standards” by Yuhui

• Flash is not W3C-recommended. Better to deploy Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG).
• ACID 2 test for web compliance browser verification (apparently, after you run through the test, the more compliant your site, the more of the smiley face would appear)
• Browser market still dominated by IE (Yuhui showed a chart with 84% share by IE) which isn't Web Standards compliant (partly the reason why Web standards are not widely adopted).
• Yuhui maintains there's still a need for Web Standards. Implementing Web standards tends to result in lower maintenance costs in longer run (in brief, there's less work involved to effect changes in the site)
• Some suggested sites for developers: Layoutgala (free layouts); alistapart.com (source codes & loads of stuff); browsershots.org (site for testing webpages by emulating various browsers); www.w3schools.com (tutorial for W3C-recommended standards)
• Q&A: I asked if vendors would charge more to develop Web Standards Compliant projects. Responses from Yuhui and the floor was that generally it shouldn't cost more. Even if it did (e.g. increased time taken to verify that the codes work across different platforms), the difference shouldn't be too significant.
• [I would have wanted to ask how a client could verify if a web developer knows about Web Standards Compliance, but we needed to move on to the other topic. Guess I'll ask at the next meetup]
  

2) Firefox Tips & Tricks by Chu Yeow

• Even for a non-techie like me, I found this segment interesting. Chu Yeow showed his favourite developer tips, tricks, Firefox browser hacks and cool Firefox extensions that mac users will appreciate. I was just enjoying the "show" and didn't bother to take down specific notes. Oh man, Siva you didn't know what you missed! LOL
• Also showed keyboard shortcuts like CTRL-Shift-T (opens a tab and loads the last page that was closed)
• To me, this segment was a peek into "what a web developer does". I don't know why knowing something like that is comforting (from a client's point of view) but it just does. It was also comforting to hear an experienced web developer like Lucian say , "There are things I don't know as well"
• Lucian also quipped, "Now we know 'what we need to know'". That simple statement may just sum up the spirit and intent of such meetups, i.e. more for participants to get an idea and follow-up on it later, should they choose to do so.

3) - Introduction to Microformats by Lucian

• I didn't really pay attention to this segment, as I was fiddling with the light switches for the room to make Lucian's presentation show up better. Something about XFN and "Microformats to organise the web". Well, read more here atmicroformats.org

Out of curiosity, I requested Lucian to asked the following questions before the participants left:

• How many were visiting the Central Lending Library for the first time? (Responses = Five out of 35);
• How many were visiting a NLB library for the first time ever? (Responses = Two)
• How many are NOT web designers/ developers? (Responses = Five)

Too bad there wasn't time left for the participants to hang around more to chit chat, and maybe give them a quick tour of the library (maybe prompt some of them to borrow books or graphic novels, heh).

A few of them said it was nice to have the session at the library (free WIFI at CLL) but some felt the session was too short, i.e. the library had to close at 9pm; they would have loved to stay longer to chat and network.

Any more Neil Gaiman fans?

I mentioned at this post on the ways my colleagues at High Browse Online tried to encourage more visitors/ readers to leave comments at the book blog. Well, once in a while we'd have posts like this one (thanks to 'L' for the submission) where the online discussion established its own momentum.

Some might say that 11 comments (at the last count) might not be much. We don't have a target for "number of comments per post". It's really about the quality of the discussion.

'L's' post led to more related posts. I decided to just trace the path out of curiosity:

• Here's the post from 'L', on Neil Gaiman's "Stardust";
• Which reminded me I've also read one of Neil Gaiman's book and I decided to submit this;
• Then my colleague, Jillian, followed-up with this post.

Is this the "Long Tail" effect in action?

There's no 100% reliable way to track how many people have read the Neil Gaiman posts (I think there's a MT plug-in but apparently it's not 100% accurate), and certainly no way to determine if any Neil Gaiman books borrowed from the library resulted from people reading those posts. I wish there was a cheap and efficient way to track this.

An idea came to mind as I'm blogging this post:

• Create a e-mail list for High Browse Online (use a free one like Googlegroups or Yahoogroups);
  
• Purpose of the email list is to keep subscribers informed of selected posts (i.e. book recommendations), and also discussions in the book blog;
• An email could be sent on a weekly basis (I'm thinking Fridays, so that timing-wise, members might be more inclined to visit the library on a Saturday or Sunday);
• Volunteers could run and manage this e-mail list, rather than library staff;
• Rather than dictate how the list is managed, library staff (e.g. members of the book blog editorial team) could serve in an advisory capacity. I think chances of the list being abused is minimal;
• The library could allocate a few tens of dollars to help the volunteers publicise the list and/ or organise the occasional meet-up.
  

Just how feasible is this idea, I wonder? Any takers? :)


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