Redhaired Librarian

Comments on Blogger and Usability

Joy comments on Jakob Nielsen’s new alertbox on usability. I think Mr. Neilsen has some very, very good points. I was amused by Joy’s mention of Blogger’s lack of categories. This lack of categories is a point in my presentation on library web logs. Librarians love categories, so why are so many of the public library blogs on Blogger, which doesn’t have categories? Lack of categories is why I switched from Blogger to the defunct Greymatter, and then to Movable Type, and then to Word Press (I haven’t had time to switch this blog.) I switched from Blogger four years ago, but still use it for some work projects because it was chosen by others. It seems they’ve been resting on their laurels since then.

As for Mr. Neilsen’s usability points, tested against this blog:

1. I haven’t put up a bio yet. This site will eventually link to my official resume site and vice-versa. But I know I need to get that bio up soon, probably before my presentation.

2. I don’t have a photo up yet because I don’t like any of the photos of me so far. I don’t look like the me in my head. But I’ll get over that eventually.

3. My post titles could be better.

4. Wow, Firefox finally supports link titles! But I do like inline links, as long as I can see the address itself in the lower left hand of my browser. If I can’t see the URL, I don’t go there.

5. I don’t have any classics yet, unless my mild take on Cronin-gate counts. I suppose I should have linked that just then.

6. I

Bloglines

I’ve switched my blogrolls to Bloglines. I’m clearing out the clutter on this page. I do plan to switch to Word Press, but I won’t have time until after the conference.

Furl

I’ve started a Furl account to go with my Del.icio.us account. The Furl account is for articles, while the Del.icio.us account is for library blog links and home pages. In a few years, Del.icio.us could be a great resource for the kind of research I’m doing now, but unfortunately, we’re not there yet.

Carnival #2

The new Carnival of the Infosciences #2 has been out for a few days. I still haven’t come up with anything interesting to contribute, but I have read some interesting posts about blogs and blogging.

I See Blog People

I see blog people is an editorial on PubMed that brings up the interesting question, “Who are you blogging for?” This is an aspect of my research into library weblogs. Some of the questions I want to answer are “Why are libraries blogging?”, “Who is their target audience?”, “How do they make their target audience aware of their existence?” Is a blog the right thing for the community the library is trying to serve?

(Link via The Rabid Librarian.)

Library Blog Analysis

The current Cites & Insights has a nice look at blogs by librarians (many of the blogs he looks at are right over there in my sidebar.) (This blog was not included, nor did it deserve to be, since I’ve been so bad about maintaining it.) He has certainly debunked the idea that blogs are pathetic and illiterate.

Forever

It has been forever since I’ve had the chance to blog here. We’re in the middle of a major weeding/ database cleanup project at work. It’s quite overwhelming sometimes. It has made me realize two things: that I’m going to have to do this all over again when I am in a school library (the descriptions, especially) and that I am not sure who subject headings are for.

If they’re for librarians, then they’re fine as they are. But if they’re for the average library patron to find a book about a specific subject, then they fall quite short. Of course, as soon as I started this entry, I couldn’t think of any of my examples… oh, I got one– if I wanted to find a book about spending summer with dad and his new girlfriend, it would be very difficult to figure out what search term to use. I don’t know– I don’t know enough about library patron behavior or the true purpose of subject headings to really say for certain. I know that I believe subject headings should exist not only to help librarians sort and categorize books, but to help patrons FIND books.

What would be very, very cool is if there were a safe way to allow patrons to “tag” books in a way that is combined with the OPAC so that other patrons can search for specific tags or specific tag combinations.

Del.icio.us

I have finally started a del.icio.us account for keeping track of library weblogs. I haven’t added any weblogs or sites yet. I’m also looking at Blog without a Library, which is doing the same thing I’m doing, but which has been doing it for two years now. I have to refine my focus so I’m not duplicating someone else’s work.

Edited 08-18-05 to update links.

More Cronin Links

J. Michael Arrington discusses the Cronin blog, making a lot of good points, including noting that Cronin ignores good web etiquette by not linking the people he quotes.

Blog People Tri-Dux

Sigh. The dean of Indiana University’s School of Library and Information Science is at it again.

One of the hallmarks of blogging is the “ego-search.” That’s what it’s called when one searches for one’s own name (we used to use Blogger, but Google is so fast now you can practically search Google the day after you’ve posted something controversial to find out what others are saying.) One you’ve done your ego-search, you can either respond to the people who’ve responded to you, or you can ignore it and move on. Sometimes, this starts excellent conversations about important issues. This is not one of those times.

One of the most disturbing things about this series of criticisms of blog-people is the underlying belief behind the criticism that everyone is not entitled to speak in public. Anyone who has access to an Internet-enabled computer (meaning, just about anyone who has access to a public library) can start a blog instantly, and for free. There’s no need to even pony up 5 cents a page to photocopy your great words. What you do with your blog is completely up to you. You can talk about your pets, your pregnancy, your lack of pregnancy, what your shoes think, basically, whatever you want. This is part of the problem these critics have with blogs. There aren’t enough barriers to suit the elitists. They don’t have to read these blogs… but they’re upset that the blogs even exist, that someone can publish without having to go through the gatekeepers.

As Jessamyn at Librarian.net puts it, ” you call me crassly egotistical and then get huffy when I call you a fool?” Dr. Cronin’s writing indicates he thinks conversations flow one way… from him down. A lot of people were upset about what he wrote the first time. He was telling people they didn’t have the right to write. That upsets people.

The worst part about the response to the responses is the unwritten undercurrent that the people are being uncivil simply by disagreeing with him. Unfortunately, too many people believe that disagreeing with them is the same as being hateful to them… people are too used to surrounding themselves with people who agree with everything they believe and they don’t know how to react when someone says, “I disagree.” Sure, some people were rather rude in their responses, but not everyone was.

It concerns me that he says research into blogs has been underway at IU for years. Since he admits that in 1997 he wrote an editorial that bloggers would see as anti-blogging, it worries me that the research has been carried out in an environment that might fail to see what blogs are and what potential they have for libraries, librarianship, and free speech.

The Lethal Librarian also has some good words to say about the continuing saga.

I originally found the note about the current editorial at The Gypsy Librarian.