Libraryhack is a mashup and apps competition being held in May 2011 and is a key project outcome from the NSLA Re-imagining Libraries project – Community Created Content.

Libraryhack aims to encourage the creative and innovative re-use of library data and digital content from Australian and New Zealand libraries.

Have you got a great suggestion for a new and innovative way to use library data but maybe not the technical skills to bring that idea to life? Why not submit an idea for an application or data mashup for the chance to win in this pre-Libraryhack competition. Your idea might then be developed by someone else as an application or mashup as part of Libraryhack. For inspiration have a look at the list of datasets to be made available by the participating libraries and submit an idea on the Libraryhack website. Victorian public library staff are eligible to enter and you can enter as many times as you like.

Entries opened on the 8 February and close on 30 April.

Check out some of the ideas that have been submitted at
http://libraryhack.org/ideas/idea-entries/

Submit your entries at
http://libraryhack.org/ideas/ideas-form/

The State Library of Victoria is running a 2-day event around Libraryhack on Friday 20 May and Saturday 21 May. Booking are free and can be made at:
http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/event/libraryhack

The first day will be a day of sharing inspiration and wisdom around informing people how they can improve and refine their apps, mashup, artwork, or digital stories for the Libraryhack competition, which closes on 31 May. The second day is a hands on event for developers and technology experts to share ideas and develop their projects.

What a challenge!

Fun, engaging, and useful – Mash Oop North, held today at the University of Huddersfield managed to combine all three. Originally aimed at librarians exploring mashups in the UK’s North, the event sold out in 24 hours (world record?) and attracted around 70 librarians and affiliated types from around the country. As one does, I managed to bump into the other Australians living in the UK within about 2 seconds of arriving.

Dave Pattern, who did a superb job of organising the event, talked about making library data work harder. 20% of keyword searches fail, so you need to guide students through the catalogue. Providing suggestions based on data becomes more powerful over time, as the data builds up. It is also possible to build good recommendation systems, using the data you already collect but don’t exploit. Reading lists and personal suggestions can also be valuable.

Interaction Brendan Dawes gave a fascinating talk about some of the small ideas he’s built and turned into larger projects. He emphasised importance of design, of simplicity and stripping away unimportant information. He showed a few examples of his work, including projects where people have been asked to create their own interface, sketching, and innovative ways to show connections between information.

Iman Moradi talked about gaming and a topic I’m very interested in, data visualisation. He was backdropped by one of the best slidedecks I have seen. There was a lot of deck envy in the room! There is real potential for involving design students in helping libraries to bring our data to life.

A Yahoo Pipes cookalong was disrupted by technology issues, but it was still good to get stuck into it again. It really is a useful tool and can be scaffolded from basic feeds to complex inputs in a fairly gentle way.

Informal discussions around a series of topics were presented runaround style, from information literacy to mobile devices and the Semantic Web, which these days is really more a discussion about Linked Data. Lightning talks followed, Owen Stephens discussed the history of interactive fiction, and discussed whether it could be a tool for information literacy. Joss Winn and Paul Stanthorp discussed a concept for using WordPress, Scriblio and Triplify to extract catalogue data and present it in new and interesting ways.

Prizes were on offer for suggesting ideas, and a team prize. It was really valuable to be able to spend an hour or so working with other librarians on building a mashup. Often learning can be so abstract, especially if you are trying to learn on your own, and I learnt more about Regex in an hour today than I have in trying to read about it previously.

This was really a great event – I came away enthused, looking forward to trying out new things, and having met some fantastic people. Onwards to the next Mash Oop, crisps and all!

Long time readers of our blog will remember that we started the Virtual Libraries Interact blog back in late 2006 as a sister site to our blog.

Unfortunately due to a number of reasons the Virtual Libraries Interact blog has been languishing for a while and no new posts have been added.

It with some regret, and a tinge of sadness, that we have decided to merge the Virtual Libraries Interact blog into the main blog. Do not worry, all of the content has been imported into the Libraries Interact blog.

The posts are still available and they have been aggregated into a new Virtual Libraries Interact category. Also preserved are Australian Libraries in SL and SL Avatar list pages.

In the new year we look forward to posting more information here about libraries and second life. Also, don’t forget that those of us using second life and other virtual worlds may be writing about their experiences on their own personal blogs.

If, unlike my avatar, yours has 8000 lindens (about US$30), you can register to take part in the Virtual Worlds: Libraries, Education and Museums conference.

“The purpose of this conference is to provide a gathering place for librarians, information professionals, educators, museologists, and others to learn about and discuss the educational, informational, and cultural opportunities of virtual worlds.” — website

The conference is in Second Life at the New Media Consortium Conference Center (NMC) on March 8 2008, and according to the website, places are filling fast. 

Preliminary Conference Schedule.

I’m giving a paper about Second Life Librarianship for the VALA conference this Tuesday. I’m showing a couple of little movies I’ve made of Info Island and the Australian Libraries Building that I’ll link to when I’ve added sound.

Here’s the details

Tuesday 5 February 2008   1120 – 1150

CONCURRENT SESSION 1: Library 2.0

Kathryn Greenhill, Murdoch University, WA

Do we remove all the walls? Second Life librarianship

Over five hundred librarians worldwide are experimenting with providing library services in the Multi User Virtual Environment (MUVE) called Second Life including a small group of Australian librarians who constructed the Australian Libraries Building. This paper describes the interface and capabilities of a MUVE, the evolution of the Australian Libraries Building and the library objects built and scripted within it. It suggests some professional advantages for librarians who experiment within Second Life and the technical and managerial considerations of setting up a library presence there. It concludes by describing how Second Life library services have evolved as librarians better understood the potential of the MUVE interface.

Our very own Kathryn Greenhill has joined with CAVAL to offer one day workshops in Sydney and Melbourne on Second Life.

“Are YOU ready to “fly, teleport and change appearance at will”? Many library users are already leading mysterious double lives, but are Online Virtual Worlds an over-hyped Web 2.0 bubble or the Next Big Thing?”

Course details are available from the CAVAL website. 

As information by or about anyone who spends time on the web increases and fragments, there are several steps you can take to manage your online identity.

Previously, we looked at managing the number of social networks you sign up for. What do you do when you have moved on from your MySpace, Ning, or LinkedIn profile – but all your data is still there?

Don’t just forget about your profiles – in my opinion it is better to delete them than to leave behind stale or spam-filled information about you when people search for you. I’ve also written before about social network fatigue and trimming down profiles. Ideally, you should check that there is an option to delete your profile when you sign up for a service – if the option isn’t offer consider whether you want that company to always own your information.

Network by network

Here’s a brief sampling of ways to delete your account -

MySpace: Settings, Account, Account Cancellation MySpace asks you to explain why you are deleting your account, and requires email confirmation.
Twitter: Settings, Delete My Account
LinkedIn: Must email customer service.
Vox: Account, Your Account, Cancel Your Account
Second Life: Membership, Cancel Account Note: SL charges a fee if you wish to reinstate your account, even a free one.

Even from this small sample, you can see that the ease of deleting your data varies widely.

OpenID

For the networks you keep, consider using a OpenID service, such as ClaimID, to track your blogs, websites, and profiles. Michael Habib gives a thorough overview of the service’s aims at authority control on the web in an article for Library Journal.

Helping your patrons and colleagues to manage their identity

Managing your identity should be a part of every class on social networking or 23 Things. Some may not have privacy or identity concerns now, but they may change their mind in the future as they move on to the next big thing.

Have any librarians out there had to give advice to patrons about starting, managing and deleting their profiles? Leave a comment!

Couldn’t make it to the discussion of “The Librarians” in Second Life but wish you had?
The Transcript is here.

The entire library community knows about this bit:

The Librarians, is a new six-part comedy series from the ABC, based around the highly-strung head librarian of an outer suburban Melbourne library. This new social satire premieres on Wednesday October 31 at 9.30pm. You can also watch it online at abc.net.au/tv/librarians from 10:00pm.

But did you know that on Thursday night, you can chat about the show with other librarians on ABC Island in Second Life?

In conjunction with the ABC, Emerald Dumont – a librarian avatar from the Australian Libraries Building – will host a discussion of the show in the ABC Auditorium on ABC Island. Do we really look like that? What would you have added? What do you think will happen? Would other professions be having this discussion if the show was called “The Teachers” or “The Doctors”?

Brush off you avatar, or follow this guide to create a new one, and join in.

DATE: Thursday November 1st

TIME: 7:30pm AEDST, 5:30pm (WA Daylight savings) , 1:30am SL time (PDT)

PLACE: ABC Auditorium , ABC Island in SL

(If you are logged into Second Life, click on this SLURL to get there: http://slurl.com/secondlife/ABC%20Island/128/75/24)

Instant message Emerald Dumont if you need a Teleport to the event, or contact her close friend Kathryn Greenhill for further information ( kathryn.greenhill at gmail dot com)

The entire library community knows about this bit:

The Librarians, is a new six-part comedy series from the ABC, based around the highly-strung head librarian of an outer suburban Melbourne library. This new social satire premieres on Wednesday October 31 at 9.30pm. You can also watch it online at abc.net.au/tv/librarians from 10:00pm.

But did you know that on Thursday night, you can chat about the show with other librarians on ABC Island in Second Life?

In conjunction with the ABC, Emerald Dumont – a librarian avatar from the Australian Libraries Building – will host a discussion of the show in the ABC Auditorium on ABC Island. Do we really look like that? What would you have added? What do you think will happen? Would other professions be having this discussion if the show was called “The Teachers” or “The Doctors”?

Brush off you avatar, or follow this guide to create a new one, and join in.

DATE: Thursday November 1st

TIME: 7:30pm AEDST, 5:30pm (WA Daylight savings) , 1:30am SL time (PDT)

PLACE: ABC Auditorium , ABC Island in SL

(If you are logged into Second Life, click on this SLURL to get there: http://slurl.com/secondlife/ABC%20Island/128/75/24)

Instant message Emerald Dumont if you need a Teleport to the event, or contact her close friend Kathryn Greenhill for further information ( kathryn.greenhill at gmail dot com)