Geek Out Don't Freak Out
the Digital Divide and the Library's Mission
Jessamyn Westlibrarian.net/talks/indiana
Handouts & Files
- Slides - PDF , Keynote format, PowerPoint format
Things to Read
- Pew's latest home broadband report
- FCC: Broadband Adoption and Use in America [pdf] & NY Times summary
- ALA's State of American Libraries report & November 2009 American Libraries magazine & Public Library Funding and Technology Access Study
- New York City Broadband Landscape and Recommendations
- Scaling the Digital Divide: Home Computer Technology and Academic Achievement (alternate link)
- Freakonomics Digital Divide blog post also Educational Hope vs Teenaged Reality in NY Times
- Gutenberg 2.0 article about Harvard Libraries
- Howe Libraries press release
Things to Do
- Firefox: LibX, Pimp Your Firefox? (another talk)
- Tools: , Mapbuilder, Google for Domains
- Open Source: Simmons digitization using Greenstone
- Making: DIY Book Scanner & instructions, Book Liberator instructions
- RSS: into email, into a box on your website, a into widget, into a calendar
- Essays: How to help someone use a computer pamphlet
Free Things
- Web 2.0 Freebies
- Dreamhost free hosting
- Flickr for Good
- Video hosting: YouTube, Vimeo, Viddler, Facebook
- Blogging software: Wordpress, Movable Type, Blogger, Twitter
- Further suggestions: Library Tech Talk, LibSuccess, Web4Lib mailing list
- The Best Website on the Internet: Mousercise
Image credits
- Tunbridge Public Library photo
- Old man reading Chinese newspaper photo by maveric2003
- Hand + Crystal Ball by bb_matt
- Waterhouse Crystal ball & skull image & story
- iPad photo by mikebaird
- Life cycle image by Bugboy52.40
- Obama hair photo by The White House
- Phineas Gage photo in the public domain
- MCLS facebook page
- Carnegie Library photo by West London Dweller
- Book liberator photo by me
Small Usability Steps You Can Take
- Convert uneccessary PDFs
- Add images & personality
- Reach out in multiple ways, overlap is okay
- Track connections you make
- Use clear language, especially for new tools
- Find ways to take control of your own technology
- Make use of free tools to further the library's mission
- Use technology to reflect the community back to themselves, have them helping you
- Give patrons a chance to be better patrons: email updates, interacting when the library is closed, being tech-mentors for other patrons.