Friday, February 17, 2012

Weekly Reader

Recommended Reading, Apocolypse Edition
"There is so much going on right now, I am feeling a little dizzy (though that could also be related to the cold I’ve been fighting all week.) Somehow, like an unusual alignment of planets, SOPA, PIPA, RWA, and Penguin’s decision to withdraw the ebooks and audiobooks they publish from public libraries have all contributed to an unusual tidal swell. People are beginning to notice that big publishers are not really all that interested in authors or readers; they are interested in consolidating control of distribution channels so that the only participants in culture are creators who work for little or nothing and consumers who can only play if they can pay." -- Barbara Fister, Library Babel Fish [Inside Higher Ed], 2/16/12

"I joined Pinterest in July of last year. At first I was excited about the tool – it seemed like a great way to collect images from around the web. I used it to share inspiring photographs with my photographer buddy and to collect fashion ideas to run by my co-workers turned personal stylists (yes – Mary Rickles and Navi Ganancial have many talents!)." -- Melissa Foley, Social Media Today, 2/17/12

"Social media’s newest poster boy is Pinterest, and there’s a reason why – 11 million hits in a week in December 2011. The growth is sporadic and explosive for a social platform that’s still for invite-only. Pinterest is the ideal medium for companies who’d like to entice customers with a more visual-appealing approach. Why? We live in a world of instant where people share photos on their social accounts using mobile devices." -- Mac Ocampo, Social Media Today, 2/17/12

Three Reasons You Should Be on Linked In
"We recently conducted a search for a Chief Executive Officer of a public library and sought to validate and extend information we had received about potential candidates. It was shocking how few were on LinkedIn, the premier business-networking site. Once we reached the finalist stage, three of four were not on LinkedIn. We could not locate these candidates for career history or recommendations. So who cares?" -- Ken Haycock, Library Leadership, 2/13/12

Where American Freshman Have Been and Where They are Going
"…Only 58 percent of students starting their first year of higher education last year believe that there is a good chance they will be satisfied with their college. That’s a mighty disappointing rate of expectation.  Where’s the optimism?  They have applied and won admission.  High school is over, a new chapter of life has begun, new friends and new freedoms, the world is all before them . . . and yet, more than two out of five have meager hopes." -- Mark Bauerline, Brainstorm [The Chronicle], 2/12/12

Email Boundaries
"Every university that I've been associated with as a student or instructor has designated e-mail as the "official means of communication." Specific policies vary from place to place, but generally there is an explicitly stated expectation that both students and instructors regularly check their e-mail accounts and respond to messages in a timely fashion." -- Nate Kreuter, Tyro Tracts [Inside Higher Ed], 2/6/12

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