Al Jazeera Creative Commons Repository: Daily life in Iraq

Learned about the Al Jazeera CC Repository from this post:

Last year, Al Jazeera launched their Creative Commons Repository with 12 videos shot in Gaza under CC’s most open license, Attribution only. Since then, Al Jazeera’s collection has grown, and their most recent footage includes videos documenting everyday life and culture in Iraq.

I'm sure Al Jazeera has considered the use of its video by its rival money-making broadcaster, but think about it -- the rival broadcaster has to acknowledge Al Jazeera as the creator (as per the CC license), which means it's free advertisement:

The good news is that the video and all others in this repository are licensed CC BY, so someone can help translate this into English or other languages, for use by rival broadcasters or in documentaries.

... All Al Jazeera CC repository videos are available via CC BY, which means you can edit, adapt, translate, remix or otherwise use them as long as you credit Al Jazeera.

Kevin Lim: Social Media - Strategy over Tools

Nice set of slides from Kevin Lim. He was invited again ("back by popular demand"!) to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Buffalo/ Niagara Chapter.

While it would have been better to hear him speak in person, his slides were self-explanatory to me. Nice quotes and images from various sources.

PRSA: "Social Media - Strategies instead of Tools"

View more documents from Kevin Lim.

Slides 19 to 24 seems to sum up the essence of Kevin's talk: Strategy first, then decide on the (social media) Tools.

Kevin's presentation made me search for examples of communication and engagement strategies using social media tools. Here's what I found to be relevant ones:

• Presenting: 10 of the Smartest Big Brands in Social Media (familiar brands like Burger King, Starbucks, Sun Microsystems, IBM, Dell)
• 25 Must Read Social Media Marketing Tips
• Jeremiah Owyang's video interview with Dell, on Why Dell Continues To Use Social MediaMatthew DiPietro's post)

Which leads me to think about libraries.

I wonder: Are there any info or poll out there that reveals what librarians and non-librarians consider as identifiable (nevermind successful or not) social media strategies by libraries?

Books In The City: Public Libraries Roadshow at Chevron House, Raffles Place (30 Mar - 1 Apr 09)

If you happen to work at or near Chevron House at 30 Raffles Place, do drop by the Public Library booth.



You can borrow books on the spot, join as a NLB library member (or Digital Library members to access eResources), sign up for e-Reminder services, return your books there even.

Parents can pick up Children's books. Adults will find titles from subjects like Business and Finance, Travel, Fiction etc.


Selected Audio Book titles are also available.



To keep things interesting, there are prizes to be won.








It's part of the public library's effort to promote reading and the use of public library resources to working adults at the Raffles Place area.

The 3-day roadshow is from 30 Mar to 1 Apr 09.

Quick update from CCKPL blogger's preview

There were a lot more bloggers for the CCKPL preview on Tuesday evening (maybe there was more time for people to respond).

Eight of them turned up, hosted by the CCKPL branch manager, Ms. Lim Puay Ling (and treated to a nice dinner spread -- sorry we didn't have that for YIPL preview, mrsbudak!)

There was a nice mix of familiar faces and new ones.

Preetam was one of the familiar faces. I took a shot of him demonstrating the Bookeen's Cybook eBook reader. He makes good use of the NLB eResources, regularly downloading stuff to his Bookeen.


Yi Chie was a new blogger I met. He's also the first to blog about the exclusive preview session.

He told me he was an "Infographic Journalist", working for a newspaper publisher here. Next time you folks read the papers, check out the soccer infographics (hint-hint) and see if you can find his name.

I was much impressed when he related how he got his current job, based on what he'd picked up from the library's collection of books on Photoshop and Illustrator. In fact, I don't think he's a unique case in this aspect (picking graphic skills from library books, I mean).

Will update this post if the rest of the bloggers publish something (we really left it to them).

Choa Chu Kang Public Library opens this Friday, 21 Nov, at 11am.

Update:

• Sean Chua - SimpleChemConcepts.com

Yishun Public Library blogger's preview

[From this post]

Two bloggers emailed me saying they were interested in the Yishun Public Library preview tonight: mrsbudak and Paul.

Unfortunately, Paul couldn't make it, as he was still at work at 6.30pm (he did qualify that be might not be able to make it down, and he was nice enough to email me when he was still stuck in office).

My colleague, Isaak, led the tour.

We had a nice chat with mrsbudak. At one point, I expressed surprise that there was any response at all to the call for bloggers.

mrsbudak responded:

"Why not?"

"I love libraries."

Ah, library users like her.

Makes this job worthwhile.

YIPL officially opens tomorrow, 14 Nov 2008, at 11am.



Update: mrsbudak's YIPL flickr set (she's got a good eye for camera angles). And her views about libraries new and old (warning: contains smatterings of adult-oriented language).

Paul might not have made it for the preview session but he blogged about his visit.

Call for bloggers in Singapore: Preview of Yishun and Choa Chu Kang public libraries

I've been given permission to issue this open call for bloggers in Singapore, interested in attending preview sessions for two relocated public libraries: Yishun Public Library and Choa Chu Kang Public Library.

You'd get to tour the library (or libraries -- you can attend one or both) before the official opening. Check out Have a first look at what's new on the shelves.

You'll be able to take photos and videos (without the usual crowd jostling you for space and camera angles).

The library manager and staff would be there to answer your questions, and receive your feedback and suggestions. Refreshments will be served.

#1 - YISHUN PUBLIC LIBRARY (reopens 14 Nov 08, 11am)

Bloggers preview session on:
Thur, 13 Nov 2008, 6.30pm - 7.30pm
Northpoint Shopping Centre, 930 Yishun Ave 2, Level 4
(Please email me, with your blog URL, at ramblinglibrarian@gmail.com, by this Thursday 13 Nov, 12pm latest)


#2 - CHOA CHU KANG PUBLIC LIBRARY (reopens 21 Nov 08, 11am)

Bloggers preview session on:
Tue, 18 Nov 2008, 6pm - 7.30pm
21, Choa Chu Kang Ave 4, Lot 1 Shoppers' Mall #04-01/02
(Please email me, with your blog URL, at ramblinglibrarian@gmail.com, by Mon 17 Nov, 12pm latest)

Feel free to forward/ blog this message to those whom might be interested.

I hope there would be bloggers, who are fans of the library, who'd respond to this.

Cheers.

[Related: YIPL bloggers' preview]

RSI radio Interview with Rambling Librarian

Was doing some email-housekeeping and re-discovered this radio interview with Joel Chua from Radio Singapore International (RSI) back in November 2006.

Think of the most exciting jobs around and “librarian” would probably be somewhere at the bottom of the list. And that’s something even most librarians wouldn’t disagree with. But this week on Blogwatch, we speak with the Rambling Librarian, who, despite the nature of his job, has managed to attract his fair share of cyber fans.

Click here to Listen.

Here's the transcript (note: the link to the audio on this transcript page may not be for the correct interview ~ thanks to Joel for the correct page).

Cyber fans? You sure you got the right Rambling Librarian, Joel? LOL

Hmm... I still find it awkward when hearing myself speak, although the goosebumpy feeling gets lesser with time. Shan't be too hard on myself. At least I sounded coherent most of the time.

I'm definitely better at writing than speaking off the cuff ('cos when you write, you have time to re-write). It's a good thing Joel did an excellent job in cutting out the rambling parts from the original interview. If not, Joel would have to re-title the episode to "Interview with a Librarian who Rambles Badly"!

Can anyone recommend a book to this librarian on something like "Speaking Well, Spontaneously"? Heh.

Will libraries have to resort to SMS-speak too?

Will libraries have to resort to SMS-speak to grab the attention of teens? Apparently, one church in the UK has done so (via Euan Semple):


The poster seems to say "I have come so that you may live, and live to the full" (obviously I'm no student of the bible so perhaps Chun See can help me out here). I discovered this SMS Speak Translator and the translated results as follows:

• Original SMS Speak: "i hve km so dat u MA hve lif & lif 2 da ful"
• Converted to English: "eye hve km so dat you MA hve lif & lif to da ful"

Hmm... the translator needs more some work :)

Euan seemed aghast at the poster, although he didn't quite elaborate why. Perhaps it's that his local church (of all institutions) are resorting to using SMS Speak to get presumably the SMS-Speak Generation, i.e. Teens, to go to Church. Or maybe it's just the plain fact that it's SMS-Speak on UK-soil (the land where the English language originates).

I can use my LOLs and ROTFLs with the best of them. In fact, Pre-IRC/ IM days, I was reading war stories filled with acronyms like 'REMF's and 'SNAFU's (yeah, go figure those out).

But SMS-Speak, I don't quite grasp it as well.

Terms like LOL and SNAFU are acronyms (i.e. formed by picking out the first letter of the word in a phrase). It's a mnemonic device. SMS Speak, however, isn't one (at least not the way I see it). Some have termed it a language on it's own, or at least a corruption of the mainstream language which has established its legitimate sub-culture.

That's not to say I'm against using SMS Speak on posters, targeting at teens. The purpose of that poster was to draw Teens' attention to the church -- to put the church on the SMS Speaker's radar. The poster would have done its job, and more.

So I would want to try something like that for the library. I'm aware that in doing so, we'd have adults (teachers, even) writing in to complain that the library would be seen as encouraging or endorsing bad-spelling.

Maybe so.

Still, I'd do it. While I think highly of libraries, I don't think libraries have that sort of influence on teens. I wish we did, but we don't. Not to that large an extent.

I will accept SMS-Speak in informal situations. It's the blatant (mis)use of SMS-Speak in ALL occasions that I'm against -- strict no-no where formality is called for. Nevertheless, I will not preach to teens on the use of SMS-Speak. I'll let the English Language teachers do that.

I'm merely recognising the fact that there is such a sub-culture among teens. I'd even argue that if libraries -- by speaking their (SMS) language -- can draw them into our premises where there's a chance they'd use our collections (of which a large part is in proper written English), we're probably doing the English Language teachers a favour.


Technorati Tags: teen speak, sms speak, language, teen culture

All librarians should have a Book Blog

I've been maintaining a "BookBlog" (i.e. a blog on books) for almost a year now, over at Raw Notes. The reason for keeping a reading journal was simple: I can't remember all that I've read. And sometimes, I find myself wanting to recommend a title but unable to cite it.

Prior to the blog, I've been keeping a record of titles that I've read (it lasted for about 10 months 'cos I lost the journal...). Unless Blogger.com shuts down, I'd have my reviews quite permanently. Plus searchable online.

After I started keeping records, I realised its value went beyond just recalling the titles. It was useful to analyse what I've read, just to see if I've expanded my reading interests. I'm pretty sure 10 years from now, I'd appreciate a record of this phase in my life via the books read.

Wished I'd kept a record since the day I started reading in Primary School. Well, better now than never.

I don't always blog each book that I've read. When I post, I try to go beyond listing the titles only, but I don't want to write a book review per se. The reason for naming the blog "Raw Notes" was because I only want to post notes (e.g. might not be complete sentences), like the scribblings in the margins of my school textbooks. But inevitably, I always end up writing longer... it's the pressure of writing for the web, I tell you.

If I were a teacher, I'd certainly do an experiment to see if a student's motivation for improving their writing increased if they blogged. I've certainly been urging for librarians to blog on what they've read. It's an incentive to write better, if nothing else.

The bookcover images link to Amazon.com, to which I've signed up as an Associate Member. I signed up not to earn referral fees (that would be nice of course) but because I wanted to link readers to the bells and whistles that Amazon.com provides (the content pages, previews, reviews etc).

For my recent posts for the last few months, I've included direct links to the NLB catalogue (here's how you do it).

Here's a list of the stuff posted for May 05:

How to draw and sell comic strips for newspapers and comic books/ Alan McKenzie


The Reef/ Nora Roberts


Dreaming down under/ Edited by Jack Dann & Janeen Webb


Tag:book blog

Watch a skit or listen to a story on the MRT

Tired of reading my posts on READ! Singapore? Sorry leh, I gotta support the hand that feeds me, right? I'm kidding. I make no apologies for something I believe in. : )

If you are in the Jurong East area this Thursday, 2 June 2005, you might want to check out this event:

There's a MRT ride from Jurong East station to Woodlands station, from 2.30pm to 3.30pm. On the train, a group of teens will perform a skit from one of the book in the READ! Singapore selection. The library hopes to sign up 80 teenagers/ adults for this particular ride.

To be honest with you, so far almost nobody has signed up... ...

Ok, even if you don't think you'll go for the ride, I'd appreciate if you can pass the word along.

If you are at IMM shopping this Thursday and going back north, your support would be most appreciated. Participants need to register at Jurong Regional Library before the event.

Tag:readsingapore

Blog experiment: library@esplanade

About 3 hours after my previous post, wrkshy (Tales of a Queer Librarian) posted a comment, alerting me to a similar blog experiment -- a library@esplanade blog. Wrkshy was thinking far ahead then! In case you don't know where or what is library@esplanade, click here.

Wrkshy says the blog didn't take off. I have a few thoughts to share on this (btw, it is NOT a critique -- just thinking aloud):

1. Starting a blog does not automatically mean that it would be read. We need to promote and publicise its existence. Like, if google doesn't see it... So we need to submit to search engines/ Technorati, and pass the message around among readers etc.
2. Having a blog is just half the equation. What makes it complete is for users to use subscribe to its newsfeeds. Otherwise the blog is just another website. The neat thing about blogs & RSS is that with RSS feeds, users are alerted to updates. The updates go to them. They don't have to go to the page to be updated.
3. There needs to be a "voice" -- a personality -- to the blog. If not, it's just another website or online brochure. The really popular blogs out there (by teens or professionals) have a common characteristic -- they "converse" with their audience. Notice I didn't say "readers". The term "readers" implies passivity on the part of the receiver. An audience, however, can converse back by posting comments if they choose to.
4. Wrkshy says there are no links or tags to the blog. I feel it's critical to have links and tags. If not, the blog is just another boring brochure. Blogs are about getting people connected.
   

Ok, I write as if I'm an expert. I'm far from one. Plenty of better advice out there. I found Blogwrite for CEOs one of the better ones.

Wrkshy, thanks for sharing. Yup, I'll get in touch with you. I think I know who you are...

Tag: library blog, library new arrivals, library new arrival blog