The Digital Shift 2014 Online Conference, Twitter Tag #TDS14

This online conference was well organized and technologically easy to navigate with a graphically pleasing interface. I'm glad I was able to log in and participate for a one of the sessions and a few of the poster presentations. I just wanted to make a quick note about:

StatBase, an open source data management software built on Joomla and created by an in house team of librarians and IT/ digital management librarians at the New Port News Public Library. They have basic documentation and information at their sourceforge page and at their libguide page. The presentation reminded me of Counting Opinion's LibPass and LibStat browser based distribute-able software for data collection and statistics presentation. I'd love to see what some of the forms pages look like and what the presentation of the data looks like. I guess I'd have to download a copy and mount it to play around.

I missed the first speaker for the Content Containers and Beyond Session at 12:15pm EST, but wow! the sessions were archived almost immediately and so I was able to review the excellent presentation on the Digital Public Library of America. Emily Gore talked about the Ps of the DPLA which were portal, platform, and partnerships.

• things a good portal can do with an aggregated collection of over 8 million items- create online exhibitions using items from different contributed collections (making use of linked data to form links of unique items that may be spread across the states), use GPS metadata to "place" items on a map for geographic discovery (this is good for people looking at local history) and make use of time/date metadata to "place" items on a timeline (perhaps best when looking a thematically linked items to see their appearance in history and if and how the when of them relates to the when of other items).
• by providing an API (application programming interface), the DPLA is a platform for other imaginings of how to use the data, or how to make the data relevant to your local area/ collection/ needs
• the DPLA relies on two types of partnerships - content hubs and service hubs, each which contribute digital items and their associated metadata, without which the DPLA would be a seriously unfun place to visit. They also have community advocates in the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) "industry" to speak on the DPLA's behalf, like at conventions, local outreach events, etc. Types of partners include (and I list these for when thinking about writing a grant to look at the local level for these types of partners):
• libraries
• gov't agencies ( municipal?)
• museums
• non-profits (cultural centers, look at those that share your mission area?)
• universities
• encyclopedias (currently I'm in PR, so the Enciclopedia de Puerto Rico supported by the Puerto Rican Foundation for the Humanities is an example.)
• high schools and local universities with departments or student organizations in your area of interest
• historical societies
• international partners (continuing the PR example, el Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños at Hunter College, the City University of New York)
• Upcoming- standardization of vocabulary to describe rights statements from free text to perhaps checkbox able descriptions to allow filters to be applied to digital objects so that users could focus in on items in the public domain, or which allow reuse. a Knight News Challenge (grant?)

And finally, there was mention of Linked Open Data Library Archives Museums #LODLAM from Jon Voss of History Pin (funded by WeAreWhatWeDo) which would allow mashups of digital objects such as overlays of images on maps and overlays of information on images. 

Here's a list of links for me to do further study:

http://www.ted.com/talks/tim_berners_lee_on_the_next_web?language=en
http://entopix.com/so-you-need-to-understand-language-data-open-source-nlp-software-can-help/
http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/lod/index.html
http://challenge.semanticweb.org/2014/submissions/
http://code4lib.org/

TexShare Databases or What We Can Get for Cheap

I'm not quite sure how this works, but in the great state of Texas, the state library has a "cooperative program" that regional library systems, academic libraries, etc can participate in, in order to have access to more resources, such as databases. I have no idea if it is paid for by the state library through state taxes (such as income tax) or paid for by the individual libraries on a subscription basis.

Anyway, it's budget time and there's been a change up in the resources being offered. I'm not going to list here what we had before or what we are keeping, b/c it is outside the purpose of this post. The purpose of this post is simply to note that there were some webinars that came out of the new additions. And I attended two this morning. Below are the notes from the sessions.

• Full text PDFs
• 720 videos
• 1500 resources indexed, 
• including books which don't read like ebooks, but you can click through the chapters
• In Advanced search, you can limit by greater than/ less than <> page numbers to find more detailed artilces
• Sharing articles is difficult b/c the user needs to login w/ username & password; so they would need their home organization's proxy link. (Best would be to log into library account first and then try links?)

AND

• This resource is more for the home owner/ weekend warrior and not so much for contractors, etc. They feature things that the average home handy(wo)man should be able to do.
• Be sure to look through the A to Z topics to have an idea of what there is for people to use. Examples are: Treehouse plans, ideas for small spaces, tiling, etc.

I'm glad I took the webinars b/c the trainer pointed some things out that I wouldn't have noticed or possibly bothered to browse. They look like cool resources and definitely as the trainer said, something to look through that is curated and good quality when the library is closed and at 2 in the morning you just got to peel the wallpaper off the bathroom walls.

All Ebsco products have a link to the support, training and promotional materials at the bottom of the page. I got the above images from there.

Webinar: Working With Difficult People

I had an experience in my workplace that I'm not proud of, but that was a learning moment for me. (Nobody was physically touched!) So I requested some training and WebJunction had a nice, 1hr webinar titled, "Working With Difficult People." Below are my notes from the webinar. I definitely needed to learn these new skills because on the pre-test I scored a 30%!

Goal: To deal with the behaviors of negative people in the workplace by moving from emotional reaction to effective actions.

People who use negative behaviors reduce productivity, damage relationships, affect morale and dampen enthusiasm by casting negative light over staff efforts. Typical reactions to these behaviors are:

• Avoidance- due to being emotionally drained b/c the behaviors cause frustration and stress
• Anger- you become obsessed about the situation or apathetic about work

Types of Negative Behaviors (communication in the form of manipulation) and their predictable traits:

• Whiners- "poor me" syndrome- want empathy and attention and seek affirmation of being a victim; typically use "I," "never," always!," "the worst."
• Complainers- tend to identify specific people & issues with problems they know how to resolve; use "do it my way," "you're wrong." Easily identify other people's faults. They view themselves as analysts instead of innovators. May feel powerless to affect change and look for others to take responsibility to make change.
• Blamers- shift blame; justify their reactions by saying they were provoked; they are critical and judgmental and set themselves up as victims. They may blame because they are trying to cover up their incompetence.

Three Steps to Dealing with Negative Behavior:

1. Listen. a) to identify the negative behavior displayed and b) to determine if the issue has validity
2. Demonstrate understanding of their issue. This does not mean that you agree. there is no judgment needed (I dis/agree) to demonstrate understanding, just a simple restatement of the facts of the issue.
3. Resolve the issue by validating their right (not yours) to resolve the issue on their own.

Change is made through positive, consistent solution oriented approach. Don't buy in to their behavior and don't compete with their behavior. Suggested solutions per behavior:

• Whiners- tell them they have the power to change what they don't like; get them to focus on specifics.
• Complainers- get them to focus on solutions.
• Blamers- goal is to get them to accept responsibility. For blamers, specific techniques are required. KNOW: Blaimers see it as a sign of weakness to accept responsibility and view criticism as a personal attack. They fear punishment and seek to protect their ego. To resolve issues you'll need to:
  • Confront: "x,y,z happened. Did you do x, y, z?"
  • When they avoid responsibility, give specific examples and be precise: "it was your computer and it was your log-in, when x, y, z happened. Is there anyone else who has access to your log-in?"
  • Be non-threatening. You have to help them accept responsibility by giving them ownership of the issue and the solution.
  • Use close ended questions (Yes, no type questions). Do not give blamers the chance to reinterpret the facts.
  • Show your co-operation by taking responsibility for the items that are legitimately your fault and by proposing solutions to address those faults.

And then I made it to the end. I re-took the test and got in the 90s, so obviously I was ill prepared for my learning moment, but I gained something from it. I hate tough-love learning situations. Why can't we just all be polite? (complaining! :))