We’re Moving!

That’s right, folks, after three and some odd years at the Blogger location, BRAIN_blog is moving here (WordPress!) Our new URL is: http://librarybrainblog.wordpress.com! This doesn’t mean much to you unless you have us bookmarked or have our feed in your feed reader. If so, please update! Our new feed URL is: http://librarybrainblog.wordpress.com/feed

We’ll publish in both places for a few weeks while we move all of our stuff over (insert sound of moving truck backing up here) and to make sure none of our loyal fans get left behind! Meanwhile, sit, back, relax and enjoy this week’s issue in which we chat about some new e-learning resources, new web tools and of course, library news!

New e-learning resources

1) How to integrate technology into teaching…
The Association of College and Research Libraries have created a great little webliography covering lots of aspects of incorporating technology into teaching and learning…there are resources on creating a web page, discussion boards, wikis, blogs, podcasts and more! Check it out: Using technology in teaching and learning: Resources to help you navigate a digital world

2)Another new tool from EDUCAUSE!
EDUCAUSE is always pumping out great little tutorials…check out their latest: Think Small! A Beginner’s Guide to Using Technology to Promote Learning MMm…yummy little learning morsel!

3) Looking for Mr. Good Podcast…
Looking for educational podcasts? Check out Ed-Cast.org , a site devoted to listing podcasts related to higher education. There aren’t many there now…only 41 so click the “show all” button to see them all! And check back again…it promises to be a valuable resource!

New web tools!

1) More Fun with Search Engines!
Did you know that there are different search engines for different types of searches? For example, there are engines that search for podcasts only, blogs only, images only, etc. There are also engines that display results in different ways – for example, with a visual display or in clusters! Check out this article from the Read/Write Web blog to get the goods on these different types of search engines. An example from the list is Simply Google…there are so many ways to search Google – for example, search only the scholarly stuff in Google Scholar, search for books only, search for blogs only, etc. Simply Google lays all of these different searches out nicely. All you have to do is choose a box to throw your search words into! There are 100 alternative search engines listed in this article…so you can find the perfect engine for you!

2) Map + statistics = fun times!

I’m not one to get excited about statistics but who can not get excited about GeoSearch, a new interactive mapping application from Statistics Canada that makes it easy to find Canadian locations on a map and then get basic geographic and demographic data for those places!? Who, I ask? New functionality for 2006 includes links to 2006 Census reference maps and community profile tables, and a thematic mapping option for selected census topics (for selected levels of geography). Ho boy! I know what I’ll be doing this weekend!

3)Two New Recommender Systems To Get Excited About!
Two new recommender systems to get all excited about this week! We’ve looked at these before on BRAIN_blog….these are tools that recommend similar books, artists, or whatever, after you enter your favourite book, artist or whatever. Music Map is an exploding map of musical relationships. Enter an artist you like and see a visual map of similar artists, displayed in a spatial relationship to your original artist. Click on one of the suggested artists to see another visual relationship display. Watch as the links bob in and out…mesmerizing isn’t it?

LivePlasma works in much the same way except that you can enter a movie, director, actor or musical artist. Recent movies and musical artists are not included and if you enter a name it doesn’t recognize, it will make a best guess, which is sometimes not a good guess. (I don’t know what it was thinking when I entered Pan’s Labyrinth for example!) Enter a name that has been around for a while and the entries are pretty interesting. Similar to Music Map, if you click on a name, you get another visual map with bobbing links signifying a relationship. Mmm…bobbing links.

Library news

1) New podcast! BRAINcast 11: Funky Tour of the Library @ IAHS
Strut your stuff as we go ‘old skool’ at the new school! This week’s podcast features a walking tour of the Library at the Institute for Applied Health Sciences. We’ll tell you what types of programs are offered at the IAHS and where the library resources are, plus the best ways to get assistance or to simply help yourself! All this and more PLUS a funky beat that’ll really move your feet…

2) The Library gets a (second) life!
As you’ve probably heard, Mohawk College now has a presence in the virtual world, Second Life! As the space is the e-Library, who better to hang out there then us Library folk! Drop on by and say “hi”! Come back often as we’ll be building some library services into the space so that we can serve you even better. The Second Life library folk who you’ll see there sometimes are: Florean Forcella, Sullivan Beaumont, Synergy Oh and Olgah Laszlo…all ready to help you out with your Second Life library needs!

3)Podcasting….Mysteries Revealed
Library staff is delivering a session on the mysteries of podcasting today for the Tech & Toys workshop. Can’t attend? Download the PowerPoint here!

 

 

 

 

Living in the Great White North

One good thing about living in the frozen tundra is you can spend lots of quality indoor time reading, meditating, and exploring the Library web site without feeling one stitch of guilt for not running around outside. Indoor, sedentary living is positively encouraged in the Arctic Circle where we seem to be living right now so we are including only one news item that pertains to getting outside and socializing a bit…(see below for info about our focus groups which are taking place next week (free pizza)! Other than that, explore away while nestled deep in your igloo…

1) Library News

Podcast: Library Web Site Treasures!

Check out this week’s BRAINcast where you can hear about the wealth of hidden gems and the vast resource riches available on TheBRAIN, the Library @ Mohawk’s website. Set sail for an adventure on the web, and we’ll share with you the tips and tricks you need to make your quest for knowledge both easy and fruitful. Ahoy Mateys!

We want your opinion!

The Library @ Mohawk wants to hear from students! The week of February 12^th, the Library will again be conducting focus groups …get the details here! Tell your students! Tell your friends! Get free pizza…and fabulous parting gifts!

The Joy of Proper Citing

We’ve just added a great new citation tool to TheBRAIN: KnightCite comes from Calvin College’s Hekman Library. Cite a resource in MLA, APA or Chicago style easily by filling in the online form with the required information. Choose the type of resource you are citing such as book, periodical, web site, etc. and whether the item is print or electronic. The tool also has a nice, little Help window (click “show info” to display it). Brings the fun back to creating a bibliography!

The new titles are here, the new titles are here!

More new titles have been added to the Library @ Mohawk collections! Check out the New Titles list to get the full scoop!

Meet the new databases

Continuing in our Meet the new databases series, this week I’d like you to meet Computer Database from Thomson Gale. It’s crammed full of computer science magazines and journals – it doesn’t get any more exciting, does it? Check out some of these titles: Byte.com, PC Magazine, CAD/Cam Update, International Journal of Computational Intelligence and more! Like the other new databases, a handy list of subjects appears down the left side of your results – this is helpful if the results didn’t turn out the way you’d hoped and you need some guidance. A search box also appears in this sidebar in case you want to start over. Give Computer Database a whirl by heading over to the Library’s list of Magazine Databases.

Lurking Librarians Redux

A reader asked last week for more info on our Ask-A-Librarian link within the EBSCOhost databases. Thank you for the question! This handy features comes with our EBSCOhost database products, built right in! (Just need to flick the switch inside the EBSCOhost Admin… for the techie readers!) I’ve included here a screenshot for folks wondering just what I’m nattering on about. Just click the Ask-A-Librarian link (at the top of any EBSCOhost page) and an email will be sent to us so we can help you out! Not as speedy as instant messaging of course….so if you’d like a super quick response, just IM braintogo! By the way, keep those comments coming! Just click the Comment link below any posting to say what’s on your mind!

2) E-learning news…

If you only read one article this month…

The best article I have read in a long time that gives an excellent overview of key trends in Internet culture and how they relate to education is: “Web 2.0 and the Evolution of Instructional Design” written by Jay Cross and located at the Learning Circuits web site.

Read some nice, clean overviews of concepts that you’ve heard bandied about such as the cluetrain manifesto, the long tail, the new economy, etc and then see them all tied together into some fascinating points to ponder for instructional design and the future of education in general. This is a good, meaty article with lots of solid info – if it was a burger it would be a half pounder loaded with cheese.

If you read two articles this month…

If your diet of interesting articles includes two articles, then take a gander at Predictions for 2007 compiled by Lisa Neal, Editor-in-Chief, eLearn Magazine The article is a collection of interesting quotes from leaders in the elearning and instructional design field regarding what they think are the trends to watch for this year. See what Stephen Downes, Curt Bonk, Jay Cross and other luminaries think the future holds for us! My favourite: “The world has become unpredictable; only a fool plans far in advance these days.” Well said, Jay Cross! This article is definitely the fries to go with the above burger.

Great little newsletter

Vendor newsletters are usually all about self-promo for the company. The Techsmith newsletter however has some really nice little treats that aren’t just about them and their great products (even though their products are pretty impressive.) For example check out the Techsmith in Education site and access some great articles on RSS and education, best practices for integrating animations into presentations, and more. A refreshing little newsletter! The pop to go with the burger and fries.

3) Web world news…

Wikipedia for research?

A big problem with Wikipedia is that because anyone can contribute you might not always get the best information. The Citizendium is a wikipedia written by experts and the founder hopes it will improve upon Wikipedia while still taking advantage of the participatory nature of the resource. From the web site, “the project, started by a founder of Wikipedia, aims to improve on the Wikipedia model by adding “gentle expert oversight” and requiring contributors to use their real names.” The Citizendium began as a pilot project in November 2006 and since then 150 expert editors and 350 authors have joined in. Unfortunately it is not open to be browsed just yet – but you can see content if you register (for free). More info here.

Videos for research?

Last week, the video search engine Searchforvideo.com added a neat, new feature that lets you search for video by provider (for example, Discover, Forbes, HBO, etc.) This is a great help in wading through the glut of videos available on the web, especially the huge morass of user-generated content (which is great fun but not so great for research). And if you’re looking for even more precision when searching for videos on the web, try Blinkx. Blinkx uses patented search technologies to index video content.

Gmail for the Masses

Not really related to research but…couldn’t contain the excitement! If you’re looking for a web-based email program (perhaps to separate your work mail from your non-work mail), Google’s mail client, Gmail today opened up to the masses (used to be by invitation only). Gmail is different from other mail programs mainly because it doesn’t use folders; instead you can label your messages (like tagging in other social software programs). And the other bonus is the huge inbox size (2.8GB). If you’re just deciding on which free, web-based mail program to use, check out this handy comparison from Resourceshelf.