LILAC 2006

The place for

weblogs and RSS newsfeeds

in information skills instruction.

Kara JonesSubject LibrarianMathematics, Computer Sciences, Biology & BiochemistryUniversity of BathK.L.Jones@bath.ac.uk

Overview

Weblog features

RSS Newsfeed features

Information Literacy

Competencies

Building into IL Instruction

Weblogs

“A blog is a website in which journal entries are posted on a regular basis and typically displayed in reverse chronological order. The term blog is a shortened form of weblog or web log.” (Wikipedia 2006)

RSS Newsfeeds

Add categoriesby using tags

Archives

Able to addcomments

Templates =

Easy to create and edit

Updated with any frequency

Individual orcollaborative

Personal diariescommentariesnews updates

Weblog functions

Weblog features

• Reflective tools • Highlighting a path of progression

• Strengthening evaluation skills

• Being prepared to respond• Improving written communication skills

• Ease of acknowledging sources online • Community building

• Maturing with incorporation into more ‘scholarly’ platforms

RSS newsfeed functions

• RSS newsfeeds: “push technology”• An alerting service that pushes information updates to

you from websites you’ve selected to your desktop

• Feedreader / aggregator

• RSS – • Really Simple Syndication

• Rich Site Summary

• RDF Site Summary

• ATOM}

XML file formats for syndicating web content.

RSS Newsfeed features

• RSS newsfeeds on regularly updated websites

• Feedreaders manage and read feeds• Tools for organising new information into manageable chunks

• Delivered to your desktop into folders

• Used for keeping up to date

Information Literacy frameworks

• CILIP ‘Information Literacy: the skills’• http://www.cilip.org.uk/professionalguidance/informationliteracy/definition/skills.htm

• ACRL ‘Information Literacy Standards for Science and Technology (draft)’

• http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/infolitscitech.htm

• CILIP = Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals•

ACRL= Association of College and Research Libraries – ALA

CILIP Information Literacy skills

This definition implies several skills. We believe that the skills (or competencies) that are required to be information literate require an understanding of:

• a need for information • the resources available • how to find information • the need to evaluate results • how to work with or exploit results • ethics and responsibility of use • how to communicate or share your findings • how to manage your findings.

..’in addition to purposive searching, information can be acquired by browsing, scanning and monitoring information sources… [such as] scanning RSS and news feeds’

..’participating effectively in collaborative writing and publication, including use of collaborative software’ [such as weblogs].

CILIP Information Literacy skills

This definition implies several skills. We believe that the skills (or competencies) that are required to be information literate require an understanding of:

• a need for information • the resources available • how to find information • the need to evaluate results • how to work with or exploit results • ethics and responsibility of use • how to communicate or share your findings • how to manage your findings.

Weblogs provide a wealth of evaluative information:•author’s affiliation•point of view (bias)•currency

Links to quotations or ideas from others helps reinforce ethical use of information.

Weblogs provide a place for critical reflection and journaling findings. Feedreaders used to sort and organise findings

ACRL IL Standards for Science and Technology (draft)

• Standard Three: – PI 6: Validates understanding and

interpretation of the information through discourse with other individuals, small groups or teams, subject-area experts, and/or practitioners.

• Standard Five:– The information literate students recognises

the need to keep current regarding new developments in his or her field.

‘..Participates in class-sponsored electronic communication forums designed to encourage discourse on the topic’ [weblogs]

‘..current awareness services, using citation searching, ToC scanning and other rapid communication literature’.

Keeping up to date = RSS newsfeeds. Cited reference searching = trackbacks?

Weblogs

RSS NewsfeedsIL

Frameworks

Building into IL

instruction

Building into IL instruction

•Features of weblogs and RSS newsfeeds

•Match to Information Literacy Competencies

•Delivery within Information Literacy instruction:

•Specific classes on ‘Keeping up to date’•Workshops on ‘New scholarly communication trends’

•Advanced general induction classes

•Placed within the ‘Information Life Cycle’

Information Lifecycle

Used with permission – Curtin University Library and Information Service, 2005

Info lifecycle stages

1: Ideas and research in progressInternet, newsgroups, blogs…

2: Original publication: 'primary sources' Conference papers, peer-reviewed journal articles…

3: Later publication: 'secondary sources' Review articles, scholarly books, popular literature…

4: Summary publication: reference works Dictionaries, encyclopedias…

5: Guides to the literature and subject guides: 'tertiary sources'

Library subject guides, bibliographies…

“Current info” Difficult to locate

“Older info” Summarised and easier to locate

Summary

• Weblogs and RSS newsfeeds are social/collaborative technologies that are maturing into scholarly research tools.

• They can be matched to Information Literacy competencies and as such might be included in information skills instruction.

• Identifying these tools within the Information Life Cycle is one method for locating them within Information Literacy instructional objectives.

ReferencesACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries). 2005. ‘Information Literacy Standards for

Science and Technology (DRAFT) [online]. Available from: http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/infolitscitech.htm [Accessed: 8 Jan 2006].

CILIP. 2005. ‘Information Literacy: The Skills’ CILIP Information Literacy [online]. Available from: http://www.cilip.org.uk/professionalguidance/ informationliteracy/definition/skills.htm [Accessed: 10 Jan 2006].

Mazar, R.A. 2005. ‘Faculty blogs: Good idea or Bad idea?’ Random Access Mazar weblog [online]. Available from: http://mazar.ca/archives/2005/05/faculty_blogs_g.html [Accessed 5 Mar 2006].

McCracken, H. 2005. ‘It’s Yahoo mail! It’s an RSS Reader!’, PCWorld [online]. 29 November, 2005. Available from: http://blogs.pcworld.com/techlog/archives/001110.html [Accessed: 8 Jan 2006].

O’Reilly, Tim. 2005. ‘What Is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software’. O’Reilly.com [online]. Available from: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html?page=2 [Accessed: 8 Jan 2006].

Tomlin, Sarah. 2005. ‘Science in the web age: The expanding electronic universe’ Nature.com [online]. Available from: http://www.nature.com/news/2005/051128/full/438547a.html [Accessed 5 Dec 2005].