Category Archives: blogging

Reading and blogging homework for Wednesday 11/7

Posted on November 5, 2012 by | Leave a comment

By tomorrow we should get an update of how we’ll make up the classes missed due to the college closure during Hurricane Sandy. I’ll let you know as soon as I find out. In the meantime, I posted an updated schedule of readings and assignments. Today we discussed advanced internet searching, including Google Scholar and the importance of setting up Library Links in your Google Scholar settings, various browser add-ons such as LibX for searching and Zotero for citation management, and briefly touched on EasyBib, which we investigated a few weeks ago. EasyBib also has browser extensions for Chrome (and Firefox?) that allow you to quickly cite or evaluate a website or online article or e-book. Please note that the library’s EasyBib demo now ends on November 30. On Wednesday, we’ll discuss searching & finding in library catalogs. Please read Badke, ch. 5 pp. 89-93 and review the Library of Congress Classification Outline.

Please write one research journal blog post in response to the prompt below:

In class today you tried out advanced search strategies and scholarly internet resources from the Badke reading to search for sources on your research topic. Describe 1 advanced strategy or scholarly resource you used. Did you find different information sources than you found doing a regular internet search (just using Google, Yahoo, etc.), and if so, how are they different? Did you encounter any difficulties that you havenā€™t encountered in a regular internet search?
Slides for today are available here.
Go vote tomorrow! Check the updated list of NYC polling sites that have been changed due to Sandy damage if you think there’s a chance that your usual polling site has been moved.

Leave a comment

Posted in blogging, LIB1201, readings

Tagged , ,

Classes will resume on Friday, November 2

Posted on October 31, 2012 by | Leave a comment

hi everyone,

The latest CUNY alert tells us that classes are cancelled again tomorrow, Thursday, November 1:

ALL scheduled Day and Evening classes at ALL CUNY campuses have been canceled for Thursday, November 1, 2012. Classes will resume on Friday, November 2, 2012.

See you all on Monday; we’ll pick up where we left off with the reading/blogging assignment originally due on 10/29. I’ll distribute an updated schedule of readings, discussion, and blogging assignments as soon as I can. Stay safe!

Best,
Prof. Leonard

Leave a comment

Posted in blogging, readings

Tagged , , ,

Reading and blogging for Wednesday, October 31

Posted on October 29, 2012 by | Leave a comment

I hope everybody is safe for the duration of Sandy.

For Wednesday, October 31 please complete the reading and blogging assignments originally due on Monday, 10/29.We’ll discuss advanced internet searching. Please read Badke, chapter 6 (all) and chapter 7, part 7.7 (pp.161-162) and view the web search strategies video. The research journal blog post originally due Monday 10/29 is now due on 10/31. I’ll update the schedule of readings and assignments later this week.

Stay safe, everyone!

~Prof. Leonard

 

Stay safe and dry, everyone!

Leave a comment

Posted in blogging, readings

Tagged

Notes from today, and reading and blogging assignments for Monday, October 29

Posted on October 24, 2012 by | 2 comments

Today we continued our discussion of the process of research. We took a look at Easybib.com, a new library resource that helps with documenting research resources and organizing ideas into an outline. For some help visualizing your ideas, try experimenting with concept mapping using bubbl.us, a way to organize your ideas by showing relationships between them. If you have questions about the annotated bibliography assignment, please get in touch. We’ll be discussing it more in the next few class meetings.

On Monday 10/29 we’ll discuss internet research strategies. For Monday please read Badke, chapter 6 (entire) and chapter 7, pp. 161-162 only. For your first research journal blog post, respond to the following questions in one 100-word post:

You are working on choosing a topic and developing a research question for your paper. What difficulties (if any) have you encountered as you work on your research proposal?
What strategies (if any) have you used successfully during this work?
What questions (if any) do you have about the assignment?

Slides from today are available here.

~Prof. Leonard

2 Comments

Posted in blogging, readings

Tagged ,

Notes from today, and reading and blogging assignment for Wednesday, October 17

Posted on October 15, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Today we discussed metadata, controlled vocabularies, taxonomies, and folksonomies. I hope you got a chance to experiment with blog post tagging using the controlled vocabulary of the LC subject headings. Slides from today are available here.

On Wednesday we’ll begin our discussion of the mechanics of searching, including how search engines works and search engine optimization. For Wednesday, 10/17 please read the following:

Your blogging assignment is one reading response blog post.

Remember to get in touch if you have any questions about the research topic proposal, due on Wednesday, October 24. I’ll make time to continue working on the topic development exercise when we meet Wednesday.

~Prof. Leonard

Leave a comment

Posted in blogging, readings

Tagged , , , ,

Notes from today, and reading/blogging homework for Monday, October 15

Posted on October 10, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Today we discussed copyright and fair use, and briefly revisited open access.
Starting next week we move from our discussion of issues in information and media to a discussion of the organization of information and media. We’ll start with a discussion of metadata. For Monday, October 15, please read the following chapter and two articles:

Badke, chapter 4: Metadata and the power of controlled vocabularies
Dye, “Folksonomy: a game of high-tech (and high stakes) tag”
Harrod, “It’s the playground of narcissistic teenagers and amateur photographers…”

Your blogging assignment is one 100-word comment on a classmate’s blog post or 2 comments on 2 different posts totaling at least 100 words.

Be sure to bring the Developing a Research Topic worksheets with you to class; we’ll make time to work on them further in class. Please get in touch if you want to discuss your research topic proposal. Proposals are due 2 weeks from today at the beginning of class.

Slides from today are available here.

~Prof. Leonard

 

Leave a comment

Posted in blogging, LIB1201

Tagged , , ,

Notes from today, and reading/blogging homework for Wednesday, October 10

Posted on October 3, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Today we discussed plagiarism, and perhaps raised many more questions than answers. Here are screenshots of the results of the in-class cell phone poll:

Next week we’ll discuss copyright and fair use, and briefly revisit Open Access. For next Wednesday 10/10, please read Center for Social Media, Code of Best Practices for Media Literacy Education; the ā€œCodeā€ and ā€œPrinciplesā€ sections only. View the following 3 videos: Lessig, Laws that Choke Creativity
Faden, A Fair(y) Use Tale
Grey, Copyright: F0rever Less One Day
Your blogging assignment is one reading/viewing response blog post.

Slides from today, including the sample research topics and examples of research questions, are available here. Please get in touch if you have questions about the research topic proposal assignment, which is due at the beginning of class on Wednesday, October 24.

Enjoy the long weekend!

~Prof. Leonard

Leave a comment

Posted in blogging, readings

Notes from today, and reading/blogging homework for Wednesday, October 3

Posted on October 1, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Today we discussed the legal, social, and ethical aspects of privacy, especially privacy in an online, networked world. We did not get a chance to fully discuss informed consent — what if websites asked for our consent each time they collected information or set a cookie? Take a look at your browser settings and review what cookies have been set on your computer. Any surprises?

On Wednesday we’ll discuss plagiarism and attempt an activity using your phones to voice your opinions on some aspects of academic integrity. Please read Isserman, Plagiarism: a Lie of the Mind (log in to the Chronicle of Higher Education through the library website) and Widdicombe, The Plagiarist’s Tale. Your blogging assignment is one reading response blog post.

Slides from today are available here.

See you Wednesday,

Prof. L.

Leave a comment

Posted in blogging, readings

Tagged ,

HW-Blog Post #1

Posted on September 10, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Reading Chap. 1Ā of Badke’s book, I can see my habits time and time again. I’m one of those “Googlers,” finding the basic info on a topic I know little about, put my opinions if needed and pray for an A. In Chap. 1, he explains the info fog and how before the “.com’s” they were traditional socities: like when a family member tells you a secret recipe that has been passed down generation after generation, and the printing press: the reason why it doesn’t take months to replicate a book, magazine or journal. The reason why I “googled” because it was the easy way. It takes time to look in a library/encyclopedia and gather all of the un-biased info that you need for a research paper when the top 5 websites discussing the generalization of your topic is within a search. Forget checking the credibility of the siteĀ & source. After reading this chapter, I realized I wasn’t putting 100% when it comes to getting info/checking sources and I plan to change that this semester.

Leave a comment

Posted in blogging, LIB1201, readings

Tagged , ,

Notes from today, and reading and blogging assigments for Wednesday, September 12

Posted on September 10, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Today we discussed non-text media in digital and analog formats, in particular some of the advantages, disadvantages, and challenges presented by the ease of creation and distribution of digital media. We ran out of time before we could discuss a relevant and recent article about digital vs. analog in the film industry, Film Is Dead? Long Live Movies: How Digital Is Changing the Nature of Movies. Take a look if you like; in it, the differences in the technologies are explained, and different film critics voice their opinions about each medium and the issues in general.

On Wednesday, September 12, we’ll discuss alternative print and digital media. I have to go out of town, so please welcome our guest lecturers, my colleagues Professor Maura Smale of the Library department at City Tech and Professor Susan Thomas of the Library department at Long Island University. For Wednesday, please read the following:

Thomas Eland, Critical thinking, deviant knowledge and the alternative press
Fred Wright, The history and characteristics of zines, part I
Zine World, Zines 101 — A quick guide to zines
Write one 100-word reading response blog post.

Looking ahead to next week, remember that classes are cancelled on Monday, September 17 and Tuesday, September 18. The college and the library are OPEN.

Slides from today are available here.

~Prof. Leonard

Leave a comment

Posted in blogging, LIB1201, readings

Tagged , ,