Web2.0 Textbooks

A textbook is a necessary item in formal learning because that is where we get information in order to learn a subject of interest. Our learning becomes more profound if we learn from authors who are themselves expert or experienced in the field. I have found two textbooks, discussed here, as relevant and helpful  to learning, understanding, and using Web2.0. The first of the textbooks is "Web2.0 and Beyond: Principles and Technologies" by Paul Anderson and the second is "Weblogs and Libraries" by Laurel A. Clyde. First Textbook Anderson, Paul. 2012. Web2.0 and Beyond: Principles and Technologies. Boca Raton, CRC Press.  Anderson Paul is a British writer in the field of computor science and technology. He has experience and recognition in this field and it is the reason i find his book helpful. It is also easy to follow because it is well structured. I do not intend to do a comprehensive review of this book here because a detailed review of the book may be found in http://firstmonday.or/ojs/fm/article/view/4227/3314 However, according to the review, by Yijun Gao, in part reads: The author, Paul Anderson, is a writer and technology forecaster for Intelligent Content Ltd. and has worked in academia and industry for more than two decades. His works draws the wide implications of computing as well as how other areas interpret the Web 2.0. Summaries of important research from various disciplines are also mentioned as themes in the book. Web 2.0 and beyond: Principles and technologies introduces the necessary background knowledge of today’s Web services and studies. Mr. Anderson’s book not only covers technology standards but also the processes of standardization, which shows how the inter–relatedness among them is important to understanding Web 2.0, as well as relevant key research findings. This book is well structured and divided into three sections following an introductory chapter reviewing the evolution of the Web in recent years, such as the emergence and controversy of Web 2.0, the definition of Web 2.0 by O’Reilly, and the author’s iceberg model. This chapter gives the readers an opportunity to understand the concept of Web 2.0 as a whole. Indeed the book is well structured for organized reading and learning and if you want to understand Web2.0, read chapter 1. Based on practice and readings I find that Web2.0 is now a reality taking into consideration the fact that more and more people are using Web2.0 applications such as blogs, wikis, podcasts, and RSS that connect and allow people to exchange information. In the process of exchanging information people comment or add on facts and ideas to a discussion locally or globally. It is a reality. My blogging here is part of this reality. This book was published about the time I began blogging however, reading it now makes things to fall into place. I understand a lot better now than when i began. Subsequently, i am now better able to help colleagues and others use Web2.0 applications.
Second Textbook Clyde, Laurel A. 2004. Weblogs and Libraries. Oxford, Chandos Publishing. I remember in 2004 I was trying to learn CDS/ISIS that later was developed to WIN/ISIS. I wanted to learn to create a bibliographic database.That was the year Weblogs and Libraries was published. I did not get the chance to read this book until eleven years later.  The book contains eight (8) chapters and an index at the end. Overall, the author discusses Weblogs and Libraries from two main perspectives. Firstly, it treats libraries Weblogs as sources of information for libraries and librarians. Secondly, it treats Weblogs as tools for libraries to use in order to publicise their services as well as providing a means of communication with users. It gives various examples of weblogs from the Internet. The author Dr Laurel Anne Clyde was Professor and Chair of the Library and Information Science Department at the University of Iceland, where she taught courses related to information technology in libraries and information agencies. She is the author of numerous books, including Weblogs and Libraries. The word blog is used previously and now comes weblogs. Let us take blog as a truncation of weblog. In summary, these are two relevant books to read particularly for the untrained in order to understand Web2.0.

Web2 Short Courses

The next Web2.0 short course that was scheduled for the 24th to the 28th August 2015 at Matheson Library, PNG University of Technology, has been deferred until further notice. A change of date will be advised on this blog soon. However, those interested please register your interest by submitting your name to:

                                       Ismael K. Isikel on email ikisikel@lib.unitech.ac.pg
                                       Phone 4734360

Course Details and Content

Theme: Web2.0 for Teaching and Learning.

The one week short course is adapted from Web2.0 for Development (Web2.0forDeve) to suit the learning and related environments. It is part of the University Library's ongoing efforts in promoting the effective use of Web2.0 Applications in teaching and learning, information orgainization and management, and other related professions.

Objectives

Participant will:

• Be introduced to relevant Web2.0 Applications
• Blogger
• DropBox
• My Drive
• Use Web2.0 Applications in information and management services
• Information gathering, orgainization, and distribution
• Create and exchange content with colleagues and clients using Web2.0 Applications
• Blogging for teaching and learning activities
• Sharing information
• Collaborating in real time in compiling information
• Create professional networks through the social media

Topics

• Web2.0 and Social Media Concepts
• Mass Communication and Social Media
• Web2.0 Applications
• Cloud Computing
• Collaborative work
• Selective Access to Information
• Social Networking

Reading Inspires

NATIONL BOOK WEEK 2015 (Erap Primary School)

                                    Ismael K. Isikel 7/8/2015

My National Book Week speech delivered on 7th August 2015 at Erap Primary School.

 Principle, teachers, students, and parents on behalf of the University Library I thank you for the invitation to officiate here at Erap Primary School to mark National Book Week 2015. It is an important occasion in the Education calendar in PNG and the world. It is celebrated worldwide.

The theme for this year’s book week is Reading is Power. Every book week is celebrated with a theme that carries the message of book week or book day as known in other countries.

National Book Week is about:

·         Celebrating Books, Reading, and Libraries

·         The love of books and reading for education, information, and personal interests

·         In doing so we are also promoting literacy (the ability to read and write) and literature (the love of stories, poems, and plays)

·         I acknowledge authors of both fiction and nonfiction for creating stories and knowledge that we enjoy and learn from.

Books record events, stories, knowledge, people and places, to name a few.

Books give us inspiration. They inspire us to do something; even something creative. Let me illustrate the term inspiration. In PNG there are recorded myths about the moon and going to the moon. One of the myths tells us that the moon stayed underground until one day someone plucked it out. He held it in his hands and it grew and grew and finally floated off into the sky where it has remained giving light to the world.  In one Native American legend, the gods struck the moon in the face with a rabbit, and it stayed there lighting the world every night. Besides those legends, you have been singing "Hey, diddle, diddle,"

Hey, diddle, diddle,

The cat and the fiddle,

The cow jumped over the moon;

The little dog laughed

To see such sport,

And the dish ran away with the spoon.

Note the third line: The Cow Jumped Over the Moon. That is another reference to the moon. Isn’t that another of those inspirations?

That song was composed centuries before Niel Armstrong landed on the moon in July 1969. In fact it was already popular around the 16^th century. The power of inspiration from stories gives people ideas to device ways and strategies; to achieve something, even something greater such as landing on the moon.

Libraries help preserve and distribute information. They help us not to reinvent the wheel. They help us improve on previous knowledge. They are traditional places for study and self-learning. The Internet should not be taken as replacement for the traditional library because when there is no electricity or internet connections, I can always read a book on hand.

As far as civilisation is concerned nations have prospered because of libraries. They stored information where later generations retrieved them and improved on various fields of knowledge such as mathematics, astronomy, engineering, and law.

Reading helps in acquiring information to improve our knowledge and wisdom. Reading helps us to improve and succeed at school, at work, and at home. It helps us to decide what is best for us and what is not good. It has the greatest potential to influence success in life. It keeps us well connected with the community we live in and the world.

Reading influences positive behaviour in our relationships with others and our surroundings as illustrated in this short poem simply titled “Mirror Image”

                                                      Dogs are their masters

Children are their parents

Students are their teachers

And Books are their readers

                                                Ismael K. Isikel

READING IS POWER!! ASA SUMBA!!