Access to Information & Libraries: It's never free to begin with

I’ve been pondering about a post by Oogaoogachukka, about the library shifting from a contributor of public good to the model where economics dictate. One line goes: "‘Democracy’ of information is eroding. You’ve got to pay for information that you want."

I'd argue that libraries were never free in the first place. The Library of Alexandria of antiquity wasn't meant to be freely accessible to everyone. I could even argue that the reason for setting up the Library of Alexandria was far from altruistic reasons; it was a way of accruing information and knowledge, so that knowledge could be used as a leverage to conquer more land and obtain greater riches.

Public Libraries are a relatively recent feature in the library landscape. I'd read somewhere that Andrew Carnegie set up the public library as a way to make up for the fact that he used child labour. Ok, so give the man a break. Labour laws weren't that stringent in those days, and that Carnegie didn't have to donate money to set up the library (I salute him for doing so). Still, one could argue that the first Public Library was built upon Carnegie’s wealth, which was built upon the sweat and tears of working-children, and hence it isn’t free – merely paid indirectly.

We may not charge for most public library services, but it’s not free. There’s a difference.

Public Libraries are funded by taxpayer’s money. In countries (like the US) where local residents vote on how their local tax revenue is allocated, some have chosen to reduce or eliminate their local public library service. Between filling up that pothole on the road and buying a book, some prefer to maintain their roads.

Life is about making choices – economics is the means by which our choices are measured.

In the final analysis, I suspect that the issue of information access would boil down to what they say about choices in Engineering - Good, cheap, fast: Choose any two.

You want it to be good and fast? Then it won't be cheap.
Want it fast and cheap? Then be prepared to accept a lower quality.
You get the picture.

Differentiating the Public Service Librarian

At a recent manager's meeting, I shared excerpts from The Cluetrain Manifesto with my colleagues (yes, we do book talks among managers too). In the presentation, I suggested how NLB's Public Library Service (as opposed to the Reference Service) could position us as "Your Friendly Neighbourhood Librarian".

I have fond memories of those lazy Saturday afternoons (much younger then), when there was no school, no homework. While waiting for my father to come home with lunch, my siblings and I would watch The Electric Company. On some episodes, they featured "Spidy", i.e. a guy in a Spider-man costume (with same Spider-man powers but who never ever talks!), a catchy theme song, and the catchphrase "Your friendly neighbourhood Spider-man". Their version of Spider-man was this silent superhero who goes around saving the day, and whom the residents in the neighbourhood know they can rely on.

Perhaps that influenced me when I suggested PLS librarians should position us like that (not the silent part though). Right now, both the Reference Service librarians and Public Service librarians handle enquiries. The former aims to serve more specialised research-based needs, while the latter caters more to the general public. The National Reference collection is also more specialised while public libraries cater to Fiction readers and general non-fiction, i.e. more leisure-based reading needs.

However, such differences are not very clear to our users. I think most people know that the National Reference collection is not for loan, while Public Library collection is for loan. Beyond that, they don't really know the difference.

To cut a long rambling short, the crux of this blog is: (1) Why do we need to differentiate the Public Service Librarian, and (2) How do we do it?

Why? Because Identity is important, no matter what people say. It's a natural human response to want to know where we fit in a complex world. And having an identity leads to a greater sense of pride in our work.

As to How the PLS librarians can become the "Friendly Neighbourhood Librarian", I personally draw much the ideas from Book.

We should go out there and engage potential users in the forums, chatrooms etc. As I wrote in my other blog:"... the presence that librarians project can no longer be the “Thou knoweth more than you-eth” attitude. To connect with our average information-customer, we need to show them that we’re as human as they are; as fallible, and there’s nothing to be fear from us."

In providing our service, be it answering reference enquiries or Readers' Advisory, or checking a reader's loan record, PLS librarians can distinguish themselves by engaging in conversations with the reader. In a real conversation, we don't go "Dear Mr Lee, with regards to your enquiry..." but we say things like "Hi Mr Lee, that's a most interesting question. It's something new to me but I've checked with my colleagues and...". Our tone (written or verbal) should be informal, approachable, human.

Maybe, just maybe, the kids in the neighbourhood will hum a song to the tune of "Your Friendly Neighbourhood Librarian".

[Tag: public librarianship, public service librarian]

Lifelong Learning Awards 2004

While speaking to a mediacorp executive recently, for a collaborative programme between Mediacorp Newsradio and NLB, I was encouraged to nominate someone for the Lifelong Learning Award 2004. I replied that I could only think of a retired person who might fit the bill, but not sure if that person was qualified. She said to submit the nomination, which I did. This was what I wrote:

My father retired maybe 8 years ago. He has had heart surgery before but he's still quite active for his age. For past 3 years or so, he's been volunteering at the Ang Mo Kio Community Centre, taking care of the CC garden daily, arranging the layout, repotting etc. He also interacts with the residents, who donate plants or ask for cuttings. Apart from the CC garden, he also helped the neighbours on the floor of his HDB unit set up plant stands.

To me, it was a total surprise that he did all that, since he's never been trained in horticulture and before his retirement and he’d never shown any interest in plants before. But now, he's learnt how to create his own fertilizer mix, transplant new plants, repotting etc.

He does it by experimentation, by asking people, and a few weeks back, he asked if there were relevant books from the library. Hearing him talk about the garden, you’d think he’s been doing it for a living.

My father would he’d be surprised if someone says he’s a Lifelong Learner. He took up gardening perhaps as a way to pass time, and didn’t consciously set out to be a ‘Lifelong Learner’.

But that’s what I think lifelong learning is about – he didn't do it because he had to, but because he wants to – and not even ‘consciously’ in that sense. It's quite mundane and just a way of life.

The nomination exercise started on 30 August 2004. Closing date is 24 September 2004, 6pm Singapore time. Nominations can be made online.

Tag: life long learning

Role the library plays: Books in my Boat

Discovered yet another Asian Liblogarian - olkgal. I read her blog on What role is the library supposed to play? Olkgal asks if the library is becoming an education institution, and whether it can become a learning centre. I posted a comment, which I'll repeat here:

I'm thinking of the public library, which in its essence, still has a very straight-forward role. It's to let the Ordinary Joes & Janes like me experience the world without having to physically travel (how many countries can I travel in my lifetime?). To allow me to learn from Harvard professors without having to enroll in Harvard (what are the chances of me getting enrolled?) To allow me a glimpse into the thoughts of the Lee Kuan Yews, Margaret Thatchers, of people long gone. To buy me that little time, to escape into the a fantasy world where I can forget my worldly worries as long as I keep turning the pages.

A poem just came into my head -- I'm calling it:
Books In My Boat
==============
Read to me, my love
Open up my eyes

As I row our boat
Gently down this stream

Merrily, merrily
Passing through

This Dream
Which we call Life
Ivan Chew, Sept 11, 2004

Tag: role of libraries

My next job could depend on my blog!

Just discovered that my blog post on Professionalism is an Attitude, not a Definition has been listed on LISjobs.com

What is more interesting is the article titled Interviewing: Beware Blogging Blunders. Apparently, my next job could very well depend on what I blog!

I wrote to my bosses about the above. See, I'm trying to make a case to get my colleagues to blog, and naturally, I have to get buy-in from my bosses.

So far, three of my peers have responded and have started their own blogs (I'm not exactly betting the farm that my bosses would start). Anyway, my take on blogging has come a long way. I used to think they are a waste of time, but now I realise that the usefulness of blogging, like everything else, depends on what you use it for.

If I could, I'd make every NLB librarian maintain a blog. I believe the blog would be a window to their professional minds. We could learn more about what each of us is thinking. It could be library-related, or it might not. It could be about books read. It could be about something we heard read and we'd like to share. It could be about our thoughts on our profession, our customers.

It's not easy writing for a blog (that is, to write something intelligent). It takes time and effort. But that way, it makes us THINK. To write well, we librarians have to read more, and read widely. It would give us that "presence" on the web, and allow other people to know what librarianship is about. Librarians tend to complain that we are not appreciated for what we do. People are often surprised when I tell them that the minimal professional qualification in NLB right now is the MSc in Information Studies (Singapore does not have a degree course).

So rather than continue to lament the fact that people don't know what we do, why not blog? Start a blog, submit the URL to various search engines and directories. Then read, think and write. Let the world know what you do.

Tag: blog advocacy

Innovation, Creativity, Love and Identity

Shel and I were having a email discussion about the creativity in Singapore. He said he was fundamentally impressed with Singapore during his 5-day visit a few weeks ago, but from what he's seen and heard, he was not too sure about how innovative and creative Singapore really was. Network World has published his opinion piece on Singapore. He has also posted more of such opinions in his blog.

Singapore has focused more on adapting and adopting the innovations from elsewhere well, explained Shel via email. It was innovative from that perspective. As he saw it, RFID and color-coding in libraries was innovative but only in application--not by creativity. He suggested that I put up a blog post to say that I took issue with him.

Thing is, I don't have any issue with his observations because they are true. It just depends on how strict we want to define "creativity", "innovation" and "inventiveness".

It's true that Singapore aspires to be innovative. We want to be "World-class". We want to benchmark ourselves so that there is a basis for judging our progress. Many Singaporeans would agree that we are not there yet. I can tell you that some people (like me), working in a government agency, get a bit embarrassed when the Powers That Be say that "Singapore is first in" 'blah blah', or that we have a "world class" 'blah blah'.

I'm proud of Singapore's achievements, but just uncomfortable trying to say "we are there" and can compete with the Big Boys. As a Singaporean, I'd say our government has been too successful and effective in meeting the needs and wants of the general population. We are simply the victims of our own success.

When Singapore gained independence in 1965 (after being booted out of the Malaya Federation), even our political leaders admitted that Singapore was a "political joke". So they had to adopt a very paternalistic approach in shaping Singapore. It could be said that there was little room for individual-experimentation and failure was not an option. Now that we are comfortable and safe, Singaporeans naturally tend to be risk adverse. And perhaps because Singapore is so small geographically, successes and failures are magnified.

"Necessity is the mother of invention". Younger Singaporeans don't have enough reasons or crisis or hardship to invent things. But these past years, we've had our fair share -- the Asian Financial Crisis, outbreak of SARS, real threats of terrorism on home soil. So we are learning and waking up, but perhaps not fast enough.

Shel also observed that our local bands sound like something off MTV. While looking for indigenous art and cultural products, he couldn't find any (though there were plenty from the region). Again, he's right. That's because we don't have an exclusive and unique Singapore Identity -- yet.

Our local music sound like something off MTV because MTV is what we think is hip and happening. Singaporeans seem to think that everything overseas is better than homegrown. Music, fashion and even accents (yes, many try to speak in US twang). I know because I was like that. Now I'm more confortable with our local accent, our working styles and mindsets.

I was at the NUS Cultural Centre the other night for a 1-hour show on "Electronic Music meets Poetry Slam". The university students formed a club to create and experiment with electronic music, and they combined their talents with a poetry performance. Creativity in action.

Of course one could argue that what they've done is nothing unique. It's all very westernised (Poetry Slam originated in the US -- Chicago. It was created by a truck driver. In Singapore, I think someone like that who invents a new artform would be hailed as a National Treasure). The NUS poets tended to speak with a westernised accent. The music is very western and European. But my enjoyment isn't any less because of that.

BTW, the ELMlab is not a University credit course. They are an extra-curricular activity and their members were there because of interest. Check out their music. They also wrote that "If you want to pursue a career in Electronic Music, you should be warned that the audience (or market) in Singapore and South-East Asia is still pretty small. So don't quit your day job yet." This also illustrates why Singapore seems to lack in creativity. Our mindset is very localised. We don't see possibilities beyond our shores, and/ or are not willing to take that risk to try.

The more I think about it, the more I feel all this have less to do with innovation or creativity but more an issue with a Singaporean Identity in a globalised world.

Singapore can and should benchmark with Silicon Valley (recognised for technology innovation) and San Francisco Bay area (acknowledged as the global center for arts, books, photography and music). But let's be realistic and not beat ourselves up just because we are not like them yet. I mean, it's ok to compare an apple with an orange to get a sense of the difference, but an apple cannot hope to be exactly like an orange, even after enough time has lapsed.

I'm not advocating that we drop all efforts to try to invent the Next Big Thing in whatever industry. What I'm saying is that while we strive to reach that kind of sophistication, we should not forget to "have fun" while doing it.

Where "innovation" is concerned, I feel that Singapore is going through a natural phase of our development. I remember reading that South Korea, in the 80s, were known more for copying the designs invented by other people. But today, they are big players in consumer electronic products.

I also take heart with Shel's comments that there is an upside to our seemingly lack of creativity. He shared that much of America's great innovation was a response to suffering. He explained that:

American Jazz and Blues would not resonate with blue notes without the century of cultural abuse suffered by Afro-Americans... The American Blues writer David Bromberg once sang the advice: 'You've got to suffer if you want to sing the blues.' I imagine you also have to be really pissed off to play heavy metal or perhaps overly opiated to write "Alice in Wonderland", or weird enough to develop a system code called Linux that exists mostly because people want to put Microsoft out of business.

Singapore needs time to find our self-confidence to celebrate what we are different. We lack that confidence to really shout to the world, "This is uniquely Singapore!". Heck, we don't even dare tell it to ourselves. We think we don't have a unique Singaporean-culture, so we adopt the ways of others.

There is no timeframe for developing a National Identity. What I feel deeply is that the more we try to look, the more elusive it will be. Trying to seek the Singaporean Identify is like what they say about "Happiness" -- that it is not an objective but an outcome. If we try to seek happiness, we'd never find it. But if we live our lives honestly and to the best of our true abilities, then it's happiness that we inevitably achieve.

When I was younger, someone told me that one cannot find or seek love. The more one looks, the more elusive it is. So Singapore's constant strive for innovation and creativity will never have an end-state, because it's the process and incremental outcomes that matters.

I wrote to Shel that Singapore would not have been able to reach where it is today if her citizens weren't creative, and only relied on top-down government directives. But people can get too comfortable, become risk-adverse and not that gung-ho to try new things. That is slowly changing. I hope more people get to read and hear honest comments like Shel's. Singaporeans need to know what we've done right, so that we continue doing it. More important, we need to know what we're not so good at, so that we wake from our complacency.

Incidentally, I attended a 3-hour Flash Animation introductory workshop, as part of a MICA led "Innovation Fiesta". A week later, I obtained a (legal) copy of Flash and now I've my first Flash movie on the web. Creativity in application, but creativity none the less.

Shel says that if he ever get back to Singapore, he'd like me to take him on a tour to show Singapore's innovation. Well, I'd be happy to give Shel a tour anytime. Showing him the innovative part is just an aside. Anyway, I think trying to arrange for an "Innovation Tour" would be difficult because from what I see, the innovativeness and creativity Singaporeans display is something more subtle.

Plus I can't bring him into the NTU or NTU labs. What I do plan to bring him is to the HDB heartlands -- the hawker centres, the food stalls. First, have a good time. See how we live, eat and play. Then we "worry" about innovation and creativity.

[Tag:creativity singapore, innovation singapore]

Remembering 9-11

The 3rd anniversary of the Sept 11 tragedy is coming up. Here’s an experiment that my colleagues are trying out – using blogs to promote library services and resources.

Inevitably, working on that blog made me think about the attack. I was in Japan when the tragedy happened (part of the Singapore contingent for the 28th Ship for Southeast Asian Youth Programme -- SSEAYP). I was with my friends and we noticed many people huddled around TV sets. The mood was subdued. On TV, I saw two buildings on fire. The commentary was in Japanese (in a bland sort of way) and so were the captions. I didn't understand a word. Was it some kind of movie? I didn’t recognise the World Trade Center. Only later did someone tell us "some terrorists crashed a plane into a building in the US". And I remember my subsequent thought was that "the world has changed".

Perhaps in another 2 years and beyond, I'd like to be able to tell myself that, "Yes, the world has changed since 9-11, and it's for the better."

[Tag: the September project 2005]

Mental Models, Taxonomies & Windows of Weltanschuuangs

[Note: "Weltanschauung" is the correct spelling, not "Weltanschuuang". Thanks to Yee Fuang for pointing it out. But I've decided to leave it, misspellings, warts and all - Ivan. 26 Aug 04]

Just read a blog post by Yee Fuang, the latest addition to my list of 'Asian Liblogarians'. She's thinking about Mental Models. Her blog got me thinking too -- seems that libraries have not truly explored what hypertext and Internet-technology-in-general can really do to make the organisation of information more personalised. Take for instance the way librarians build a "librarian's mental model of a book", i.e. what we call 'Biblographic Access Points' -- Title, Author, Subject, Publisher, ISBN etc. Users have no choice but to conform to what we decide are the access points to information.

I have a feeling that most libraries, in building taxonomies, are doing what the Chinese say, "Change soup but not the medicine", i.e. we may be doing things to same way.

Some people have suggested that with today's technology, we should allow users to build their own Access Points to information. I came across an excellent blog on this but can't remember where is it (damn!). Anyway, it sounds logical, doesn't it? We each have different "mental models" in how we make sense of information and the world at large. Libraries should build "information taxonomies", but allow end-users to search for information the way they see it, according to their 'Weltangschuuangs' (i.e. world-views).

Let's use the term "Relationships" as an example:
Women = "Long term" + "Companionship" + "Marriage"
Men = "How to score, big time"*
(*hey, come on it's true ain't it?)

So should any librarian wonder why people are turning away from libraries and plunging into the Internet? Could it be that the appeal of the Internet is that there is no 'right' way to seek information? That no one will notice that you are not searching for it the 'correct way'?

Speaking of 'correctness', I have to qualify that I don't really know what I'm talking about when it comes to "Taxonomies" and "Mental Models". So flame me, correct me, teach me :)

Oops -- a 'Tangential Thought' moment here (i.e. where I digress and ramble):
(1) Perhaps that's why I'm hooked on blogs. It doesn't matter that I'm reading someone's biased view of politics, or a teenager expressing his/ her angst. It all adds to my understanding of how other people view the world, a "Window to their Weltangschuuangs", their Mental Models of things that matter to them.

(2) The word "Taxonomy" is defined as the "scientific process of classifying living things". Hmm... 'Information' as a 'Living Organism'? I'm sure there's an article out there about this.

Writing Reviews: What are we really afraid of?

Here's an interesting blog by Michael McGrorty on "Reviewing Books". It's informative and subtly funny too (like many of the blogs I like). A statement in the 5th para caught my attention: "You don’t find a lot of enthusiasm these days among librarians for writing reviews." It struck a chord because I thought this problem existing only in NLB. Now I know we are not alone.

Michael suggests that writing reviews is "a lost art, gone to the same musty resting place as the card catalog and the Silence Rule." I think for NLB, it's not permanently lost. It was probably side-tracked for a while.

NLB probably needs to do what it has been doing so well for the past 8 years: Re-inventing.

The card catalog hasn't really gone away. It's now online and we're better off because of it. Silence is still part of library etiquette but since we know we can't stop every single person from talking, NLB created a Quiet Reading Room for the upgraded libraries (where readers would help us enforce the Quiet Reading rule). So it's the same for the "lost art" of writing book reviews. NLB has to reinvent it.

Mind you I'm no expert in writing reviews. My problem is that when I'm conscious of what I have to write, I feel pressured and tend to spend days refining the draft. Frankly, it's tiring work and I end up dreading to write. So that's why I started Raw Notes, where I could deliberately write anything I want and not feel pressurised into conforming to the requirements of "good reviews".

I want to make my "notes" (not reviews) personal. Forget about being correct and objective etc. It's ok for the occasional typo and grammatical mistake. I just want to enjoy writing and reflecting on what I've read. So far, the experiment is working for me. I've never been so productive where writing is concerned. And I find that there's a ripple effect - the more I enjoy commenting on the stuff I read, the more stuff I find myself reading, and widely too.

Be Personal . Be 'Incorrect'.
Blog it. Flame it.
Be Unafraid.

That's my suggestion for reinventing the way we write and publish book reviews. I'm sure my more creative colleagues will have more brilliant ideas.

Michael has a few suggestions worth noting (comments in [ ] are my own):
* If you have a ‘new books’ section post the review near there, in close proximity to the book. [Makes sense to me!]

* Don’t hesitate to tack copies up at the ends of the stacks where the book would be found. [I like this. That's where readers would need the reviews. Brilliant ideas are often simple ones. ]

* A nice trick is to tuck in a copy inside the book itself, or to hang one from the shelf where the book rests, just like the bookstores do. [Did I mention that brilliant ideas are often simple ones? Micheal, I couldn't have said it better.]

* Put a copy at the reference desk so that the staff can pore over it in those few moments when there isn’t a rush of people to serve. [Yes, don't forget that internal customers are customers too. And if yet another customer asks the "Where's the toilet?" question, point it out but also hand them the review and say, "Here's something to keep you occupied. And feel free to recycle."]

* Be sure to send a copy to the editor of your local paper, especially if you live in a small town. You might end up writing a review column for the paper. [And make a career out of it... it's not as far fetched as it sounds. Singapore is pretty small. In many ways, we are a small town. ]

* Some libraries have book reviewing circles which function very much like book clubs, with the obvious exception that the members produce reviews of the book they’ve all read. This is a great idea if you can coordinate the activity so as to make the review coincide with new releases. Another project you might undertake is to put together a staff-patron reviewing group. [Sounds like a lot of work, but I read somewhere that if something is easy to do, it's probably not worth doing.]

* But if you end up soldiering on alone in your task, don’t feel bad. A true reviewer establishes a relationship with a book that is unmatched by anybody other than its writer. You have that, and your understanding, for compensation. [I think that's why librarians don't want to write anymore. The fear of not being read at all is worse that being criticised. I learnt in my IRC days that being ignored is infinitely worse than being flamed.]

This last point is important. Now I'm getting really philosophical here - the key is to not worry about it. I know from my experience that the less I worry about writing, the better my writing seems to be - at least to me anyway. And that's ok, because I should write for myself first. I'm often my worse critic.

Even if someone says "Ivan, your review sucks", I'd say "At least you're reading it. Thanks for your time. BTW, you might want to look up books on "Improving your EQ". I can recommend you some really great titles!"

My PLS librarian colleagues are re-discovering the joys (and pains) of writing reviews. Their work is improving everyday. Right now, they've a regular column in The Straits Times, Singapore's main English broadsheet. The reviews are on books relating to Personal Finance. In recent months, we've since received requests from one or two publications asking us for reviews. And a few authors have asked our folks to review their books. My colleagues are complaining about different things now - they say they have no time to write (or read, in order to write). It's a problem, but a good problem.

I don't know how my librarian colleagues would react to Michael McGrorty's article. I sent them the URL and I hope they read it. Doesn't matter if they don't agree with Michael's suggestions on promoting books using reviews. I do hope they find comfort that they're not alone in being hesitant about writing reviews.

Times like this I reflect on Yoda's Words of Wisdom: "Do, or do not. There is no try."

Beyond Gimmicks: Tablet PC trial in Crescent Girls’ Secondary

CNA (31 Jul 04) reports that 300 students from Crescent Girls' Secondary "will no longer need to lug heavy textbooks to school". The trial to use Tablet PCs started some 4 weeks ago, allowing students to have "lessons on the move - in the class, in the garden or even at home". I'm thinking of the movie Dead Poet's Society, where Robin Williams threw away the textbooks and conducted classes under a tree.

The report also says that with the Tablet PCs, students can "learn anywhere, any place and any time, transforming the way students learn in school." The students seem to find it a boon. One student said they can do their “homework, projects and everything" - I'm betting the "everything" refers to IRC and Blogging as well (which is not necessarily a bad thing).

Several thoughts upon reading the CNA report:

Thought #1 - Technology is both the key Enabler and Disabler.
While the potential benefits of equipment like the Tablet PC are vast, there are also the accompanying problems. Consider this scenario:

Teacher: "Ok Class, please boot up your Tablet and open up the document I emailed last night."
Student1: "Teacher, my battery has gone flat."
Teacher: "I thought I reminded you all to charge your battery before coming out to the field? Ok, you sit with Ling over there."
Student2: "Teacher, my Tablet crashed!"
Teacher: "Where is your backup? No backup? I thought I'd reminded you all about saving your work every 5 minutes?"
Student2: "But Mrs Wu said that we only need to save every 10minutes..."
*BLONK - CRASH!*
Student3: (Close to tears) "Sir, I dropped my Tablet! My mother is going to cane me!"
[15 minutes later]
Teacher: "OK OK, those who need to share the Tablet PC, please do so. We have to get to the lesson proper. Now everyone will... William and Boon Keng! What are you doing?"
Student4 & 5: (In unison) "Nothing Sir!"
Teacher: "What nothing?! What is this? You two are doing IRC when you should be paying attention!?"
Student4: "But Sir, I was just asking Boon Keng how to copy and paste the document into my blog."
Teacher: "... I... I don't care. You have to pay attention. No one is allowed to do anything else. If you are not paying attention, you won't know what is going on."
Student6: "Teacher! Michael is assessing the Mediacorp website!"
Student7: "I am not! This is the Discovery Channel lah, stupid!"
Student6: "You then stupid! You smell too!"
Student8: "Yah teacher, it's very hot out here. I want to go back to the computer lab. Here no aircon."
Teacher: "That's it! I give up!!! I am going to tell Principal Tang that this class will stick with books and remain in class for the rest of the year! Why did they try this experiment anyway? I told them it wouldn't work, but Noooooo, they wouldn't listen..."

The above is just tongue-in-cheek. But some of the problems are already happenning in classes that have used computers during lesson time. I'm no anti-technologist. My point for the ramble is that with everything in this world, every Plus has a Minus, a Yin & Yang, Light & Dark.

We learn in basic physics that "For every action, there is a equal and opposite reaction". For such experiments to be successful, schools need to anticipate and pre-empt those potential Negatives. Not all would be eliminated. The thing is to ensure there are more Positives than Negatives at the end of the day. BTW, here’s an interesting blog by Shel on the issue of power supply.


Thought #2 – What’s are the REAL critical success factors?
It's clear to me that students love this because it's gimmicky. The real test will come when the novelty aspect wears off. Then it's just another piece of machine. I've not used a Tablet PC but I understand that one key feature is that it accepts handwritten notes. My experience with a Palm PDA is that while handwritten input (as opposed to keyboard) is convenient, the handwriting recognition isn't as fast as input via keyboard, or writing by hand on paper.

So content and teaching methods will be the real critical success factors. Teachers need to modify their teaching strategies to really benefit from the technology. Otherwise, the benefits from using IT will not be very significant. I'm not alone in this view, which brings me to Thought#3.


Thought #3 – What were the lessons learnt from the 1999 eduPAD experiment?
Prior to the Crescent Girls' experiement, there was a similar trial by Dunman Secondary School - EduPAD - in Sept 1999. Unlike the Tablet PC, which was a commercial product, the eduPAD was a customised device targeted specifically for schools for use in teaching and learning.

It was supposed to bridge the gap between a low-cost Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) and the notebook or desktop computer. It too, was all about “learning anytime, anywhere”. The idea was to “shrink text books to the size of postage stamp sized chips, which students can then slot into the EduPAD, enabling them to review textbooks page by page whilst studying at home.”

This was an ambitious R&D project, involving the (1) Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) which mooted the idea for the eduPAD and provided pedagogical support; (2) Kent Ridge Digital Labs (KRDL) which offered the technological expertise for the software; (3) CET which designed the hardware; (4) local publishers to contribute to the content; (5) the school who provided the users (teachers and students).

In mid 2000, I spoke to some folks from CET, as well as one or two teachers from Dunearn High. My personal take on the trial was that the proverbial Achilles Heel in the project was CONTENT. The hardware was great for its time – it allowed the ability to store worksheets, assignments and handwritten notes, and access the Internet. But without content, the effectiveness of the trial was limited.

I also suspect (but did not verified) that the project did not really have any significant impact on exam results. Although this may not have been a goal of the project, it would still be the ultimate benchmark by most teachers and parents. With loaded teaching assignments, not all teachers would welcome the R&D nature of such trials. On top of that, they have to think of different teaching approaches in addition to their existing workload with other classes not in the trial.

Parents might also ask, “How has this improved my child’s exam grades? If I have to pay extra for the gadget, I’d rather go back to using textbooks and the tried-and-tested ways of classroom-based teaching.”

Singaporeans are a pragmatic lot when it comes to exams. Indeed, the title of the NIE/ NTU study is also telling, for it says “Perceived Benefits of eduPAD in Enhancing Learning”. The benefits of IT applications in schools have yet to be rigorously measured.

The findings from a NIE/ NTU study (2001)- Perceived Benefits of eduPAD in Enhancing Learning - concluded that the “introduction of electronic devices per se into the classroom would not bring improvement in teaching and learning automatically. Teachers and students need to modify their teaching/learning strategies and make full use of the opportunities provided by such a device to do things otherwise not possible." I also notice the paper was careful to say "perceived benefits".


Thought #4 – Why do want to do this at all?
The recurrent theme for such IT experiments in schools is that it will eliminate the need for school bags and textbooks (this was the same thing they said about digital content replacing books and libraries at least 10 years ago, and that hasn't happened).

Other espoused objectives include:

• “… bringing a new dimension to the growing popularity and importance of distance learning education" Alberta Canada
• "Preparation of the youth to be able to succeed in the information society of the 21st century" Slovak Republic
• “… for engaged learning, the deepening of school-business collaboration and, most broadly, the nurturing of a culture of innovation and enterprise across the education system.” Singapore

My thinking is, perhaps, shallower - the key question ought to be: "How will the Tablet PC - or equivalent - make a student a better person in the broad sense of the word?"


Thought #5 – But try we must!
To quote the MOE Minister's 1999 press release:
“What the school or classroom of the future will look like is still very much anybody's guess. What we can say is that it is unlikely to settle on any one model. More probable, a variety of models will emerge, responding to different needs and learning aptitudes and leveraging on different technologies and resources.”

So Singapore will have to continue to try, to learn from successes and failures. And try again.
Why am I so interested in such projecys? Simple answer:
Libraries => Used for learning & research => Taking notes => How can libraries anticipate and support future trends?

RELATED RESOURCES/ REFERENCES:
Tablet PCs and/ or its application in education:

• Jeddah School Launches E-Education Program - Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Apr 2004)
• Mobile Learning Pilot Project - Alberta Canada (Apr 2003)
• PCs for Schools Project - Slovak Republic (Jan 2004).

For a broad discussion on the applications of Tablet PC, with comments from Bill Gates (Microsoft), Chiaki Itoh (Fujitsu), Carly Fiorina (Hewlett-Packard), Atsutoshi Nishida (Toshiba), Kazuhiko Kobayashi (NEC), Stan Shih (Acer), and James Chu (ViewSonic) - Tablet PC Launch Press Conference - New York, Nov 2002.

The NIE/ NTU findings on an evaluation of a proto-type hand-held electronic device - Perceived Benefits of eduPAD in Enhancing Learning
From the abstract:
"... At the end of the trial period through a survey and focus group interviews the benefits of this innovative device as perceived by the teachers and students were determined. Both the teachers and students expressed a positive attitude towards the use of an electronic device to enhance teaching and learning. However, they also pointed out that the barrier to the use of eduPAD device in the classrooms resulted mainly from technical problems, such as slow speed of loading and accessing time to the Internet. The students also said that the instructional approaches used in eduPAD classrooms were largely the same as those found in traditional classroom. The findings suggest that introduction of electronic devices per se into the classroom would not bring improvement in teaching and learning automatically. Teachers and students need to modify their teaching/learning strategies and make full use of the opportunities provided by such a device to do things otherwise not possible."

For current product and industry developments on Tablet PCs - Table PC News (from Tablet PC Magazine).