Research Essay Presentations: Marvellous

  It was another week of leaning new concepts in ICTs Applications in LIS. Listening to well-presented research essays, one could easily notice that Library and Information Science master’s students at University of the Western Cape are not just able to absorb the pressure from their lectures but are also intelligent. I personally learnt many new concepts from the presentations. I am now aware the use mobile technologies in academic libraries, application of generation Y in libraries, application of the cloud computing in libraries, digital gaming in libraries.

I was particularly interested in how mobile technologies can be used in academic libraries. All along, I thought mobile technologies simply mean cell phones but having listed to this presentation, I am convinced that mobile technology means a lot and we can harness it as a potential too for efficiency operations of our libraries.

Presenter came up with many interesting presentation styles which attracted my attention too. Their slides were professionally designed  decorated with touchy colours, fonts and images which added meaning and value to the content they presented.  

The major task this week was presenting the assignment on the trustworthiness of information transmitted via social media during periods of crises. Below is a full presentation. The task has helped me acknowledge strengths and weaknesses of my presentation skills based on the feedback from my classmates.

Evaluating web pages, some tips and techniques: Week 7 lecture

Week seven of my studies was as beneficial as other previous weeks. Having learnt tips on evaluating web pages when I was an undergraduate student, I was back in class for a similar lecture but this time as Masters Student. As usual, the lecturer for the course was so composed and offered the best by asking the whole class to participate. 

Considering that there are millions of web pages on the Internet, the lecturer warned the class against believing in any information they access on the Internet. The lecturer then shared some techniques for evaluating websites which include the following: validity, reliability, authority, relevancy/ coverage and comprehensiveness, accuracy, currency/durability of information, navigation and design.

I just noted that elements such as publisher, author, reputation, timeliness, content are also applied when evaluating books and other print materials but the most unique element which attracted my attention is the domain name of the web page. 

I just learnt that it is important to pay a particular attention to the domain name ending when evaluating websites. This element can be helpful in identifying the type of site or page being dealt with. For example, the URL for the University is http://www.uwc.ac.za. The domain name ending .ac indicates that it is an academic institution. Consider the following figures:

The following video tutorial offers some extra web evaluating techniques and tips.

Cloud computing: a concept worth adopting in libraries?

I learnt many new things in the week ending by but the most interesting one is cloud computing. A well prepared and tailor-made presentation for LIS postgraduate students by a senior lecturer in the department of information systems at University of the Western Cape was so beneficial to me.  click  here to watch a video on cloud computing.

I am now very aware that compared to a traditional computer that requires me to be in the same position physically accessing it as storage devise, the cloud takes way that arrangement. With the cloud technology, the cloud provider can both own and house the hardware and software and run my home applications. 

I just noted that once connected to the Internet; I can retrieve, edit, store and access any document on the cloud hardware at any time and indeed, anywhere. 

The presenter also talked about the type of the clouds that I can subscribe to depending on my needs and they include the public cloud which can be accessed by any subscriber with an Internet connection and access to the cloud space for example Google Drive, private cloud  which is established for a specific group or organisation and limits access to just that group,  community cloud which is shared among two or more organisations that have similar cloud requirements and finally, a hybrid cloud which is essentially a combination of at least two clouds, where the clouds included are a mixture of public, private, or community. 

Applying the concept of cloud computing to librarianship  

I personally feel that he library community can apply the concept of cloud computing to increase the power of collaboration and to form a significant, unified presence on the Web. When library systems are deployed as open cloud solutions, then the library community itself can step up to create extensions to their core services and share them throughout the community using cloud solutions. Secondly, libraries can get out of the business of technology and focus on collection building, patron services and innovation. This can improve the delivery of library services to its clients.