AskLisnews

When To Say When: Is it ever appropriate for us to shut down a thread on LISNews?

Blake — Fri, 09 May 2008 08:24:42 -0500

Though it's rare for any post at LISNews to get more than a few comments, on rare occasions a thread will take off and degenerate into the worst of what the internet has to offer; name calling, profanity, anger, stupidity and raw emotions. There have been a few occasions when people suggested I shut the comments down on specific discussions because of what they're seeing.

So I put the question to you, the raving lunatics that cause it to be raised in the first place: Is it ever appropriate for us to shut down a thread on LISNews because of what's being written?

Critique My New Site - LISWire - The Librarian's News Wire

Blake — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:31:43 -0500

I'll officially launch a new site Monday, so I'm looking for feedback, ideas, critiques and criticisms now. The new site is LISWire - The Librarian's News Wire - http://liswire.com/

"LISWire is a brand new idea from the guy behind LISNews & LISHost, Blake Carver. The plan is to allow member companies and organizations to use LISWire to send their full-text news releases and multimedia content to librarians, journalists, library professionals and the general public. We're going to build a network to distribute this information world wide. "

Let me know what you think... How does it look? Does it seem useful? Do we need to change something, anything?

Leave a comment below, hit the contact form, or drop me an email btcarver at lisnews.com

Live Call-in Segment Postponed

StephenK — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 23:07:07 -0500

The live call-in segment for LISTen: The LISNews.org Podcast is postponed until later this month. With pressures coming off of PLA and heading right into Computers in Libraries I am finding that this week is not good timing in terms of having an available audience. This matter is not dead but merely on hold.

What do your feed reader folders say about you?

Blake — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 08:00:19 -0500

What can others learn about you by the way you organize your feeds?

Generally mine seem to say I live in Buffalo, I'm a parent, a librarian and a small business owner. What do they say to you? How are yours organized?

Mine say I LIVE [I meant live, not love, though I guess I do both] in Buffalo, read some comics, have an interest in cryptozoology, like to read about economics and search for bargains. I try and follow the latest developments in technology, security, business, health, the supreme court, Linux, gadgets, economics and personal finance. I read what librarians are writing on the web. I like to get ideas for running and marketing a small business. I follow web trends and security issues for computers. I have a folder for psychology because I have a BA in psychology, a folder for my wife's business, one for friends, and one for random stuff that doesn't fit elsewhere.

Here are mine:

Buffalo
Comics
Cryptozoology
Deals
Economics
Gadgets
Health
Jobs
Law-Politics
Libraries
Lifehack
Linux
Misc.
Parenting
People
Personal Finance
Psychology
Search- Media
Security
Small-Business
Tech.
Web
Web Hosting
Yellow Pages.

Do You "Do" Email?

Blake — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:41:20 -0500

I was just reading a post on PUBLIB and noticed a pattern, I think that a particular author "does" email. That got me thinking, is email part of working for most people now, or is it still something that needs to be done separately? For me it's like eating, or breathing even. My email program is always running, there is no "doing" email, it's just always on. Email is not a distinct part of my day, it's how many reference questions come in while I'm at work, and it's how all support requests come in for LISHost. Email isn't something that can be put off until I have free time, it's how work begins. Because of LISHost I can't go more than an hour or two without at least checking on email, the servers and support requests; ever. While I know I'm probably an extreme example, even during a regular workday I wonder if people still "do" email. 5 years ago when I worked in a huge academic library I was surprised so many people would block out time special time to "do" the email.

So I'm curious, do you "do" email? How do you handle it? Do you "do" your feed reader or twitter or something else?

Last call to vote on The 10 Non-Librarian Blogs Librarians Should Read In 2008.

Blake — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 07:52:14 -0600

It's never a bad idea to take a step away from the library world and see what else is out there. No doubt we could learn a thing or two from other professions. That's what this list is all about.

Is there a blog we should be reading that's NOT written by a librarian or FOR librarians? How will that blog help us do our jobs as librarians better? What things do we need to know about? What's the most interesting, useful or entertaining site you follow outside of the LIS World?

You don't need to send me a complete list of 10, just one or two of your favorites will be just fine. Let me know why you think other librarians should be reading your favorites. Leave a comment below, or hit the Form. I'll post the final list on Monday!

What Non-Librarian Blogs Should We Be Reading?

Blake — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 07:04:05 -0600

The Aye's have it. We shall build a new list: The 10 Non-Librarian Blogs Librarians Should Read In 2008.

It's never a bad idea to take a step away from the library world and see what else is out there. No doubt we could learn a thing or two from other professions. That's what this list is all about.

You don't need to send me a complete list of 10, just one or two of your favorites will be just fine. Let me know why you think other librarians should be reading your favorites. I'll post the final list in a week or two.

Call for reflections on ALA Mid-Winter

StephenK — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 18:25:19 -0600

The week is now coming to a close and folks are returning from ALA Mid-Winter. What was good? What were your most memorable moments?

I am curious about this as I was not able to leave Las Vegas for Philadelphia. I am also interested in learning if there was any new action in the matter of the situation in Cuba. The aftermath of an event like Mid-Winter can sometimes have results that do not get known as "news".

Reflections from attendees can be received until 1700 PST Saturday at listen@lisnews.org. I cannot guarantee any particular e-mail will be read in the program. The production team will review e-mails received, though, as the season finale is put together.

Please also complete our listener demographics survey found on SurveyMonkey.

As it seems lately to always pop up, clicking this button may be useful if you want to contribute to help LISTen make a great finish to its trial season:

LISTen trial season starts winding down

StephenK — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:45:21 -0600

The last episode of the LISTen trial season is set to air on Martin Luther King Day next week. Once that episode posts the trial season ends. Review will happen as to results obtained during the season.

In my LISNews blog (something every user gets when they register) I have written heavily recently. This is not unusual. In many respects that was an attempt at the show being more interactive. While I do not have the necessary phone bridge to bring in guest callers there are other ways to interact.

The first is to drop me an e-mail. I do read e-mail and try to respond. I do attempt to respond to comments posted at LISNews. Although questions may seem defensive perhaps it should be remembered that I may just need more information to address an issue. Specificity helps in comments if I have to go back and review episodes or take other action. I cannot work miracles but I also do not metaphorically tear people's heads off in e-mails.

Three blog entries recently look at different facets of production in Las Vegas. In one post I discuss how it is difficult to get the necessary press credentials to be able to enter a major event to cover it. I also discuss the fall-out of something that continues to make it harder for folks like us as well as GeekBrief TV to get press credentials. The post looks at the cheapest event to cover in an original matter. As we have no travel budget, let alone any budget, such also highlights why I keep asking about money.

In a second post I tried to present an abridged version of verbal ranting by the show's audio engineer. Much of that was a reaction to advice that was reportedly passed out at ALA Mid-Winter. The advice that was passed out seemed to contradict much of the notions of good production presented in texts from c|net's Troy Dreier and video developer Keith Underdahl. Work continues on the course proposals mentioned in the blog post as I am shooting to have out in the mail this weekend.

The final blog post I refer to explains the listener demographics survey questions. The listener demographics survey helps us do many things as we look ahead to getting a pick up to continue into regular seasons. Who listens? Where do they listen? What do they do? In asking questions we hope to learn what segment of LibraryLand's population we are serving and present something good to you.

Where do I see things going? There are unclear calls for more original content while also allowing for it to be user generated. In much of the context of the Internet world that is hard to pull off. While TalkShoe is one service that can provide such frankly I do not like the audio quality that is provided at times. It also feels weird to use when in Nevada members of Congress use teleconferencing bridges like that to host their own "talk show" events to connect with constituents. I am not sure how to reconcile the two.

Is there a call for a show taking an applied look at new tech offerings and how such might function in the world of LIS? Do we need interviews and feature segments that would require travel across the country or around the globe? Is the status quo sufficient? On this we have seen no clarion call. I only caution that without somehow securing an underwriter or ad revenue donations are the only way to keep any of those three options going. The easiest one for securing ad revenue would be the first, I imagine, while the other two would require underwriting and generous patrons. The third one could get by on listener donations but those have to amount to something each month.

As it seems lately to always pop up, clicking this button may be useful if you want to contribute to keeping LISTen going:

10 Non-Librarian Blogs To Read?

Blake — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:11:54 -0600

I'm curious if there's any interest in a list of "other" blogs we should all be reading. Unlike the 10 Librarian Blogs, this new list would be 10 NON librarian blogs that should be read by librarians. I'm thinking of blogs that highlight things that are outside the LIS World, but are applicable to our what we do. Blogs that will help us do our jobs. Places we can go and read things outside our normal circles of knowledge.

This could be things like technology trends, marketing, human resources, intellectual property, publishing and search engines.

If you think such a list is worthy, let me know, or drop your list in the comments below. I'm not sure this will be worth pursuing. If there's enough interest I'll start working up a list.