Overnight Gaming in the Libary
February 29, 2008
The dungeon at the Ilsley Public Library is getting ready to open all night.
The library will host an overnight Dungeons & Dragons session March 14. Participants, who must be in sixth to 12th grade, will arrive at 6 p.m. and be divided into several different game groups, each led by an adult.
Article in Rutland Herald here
I wish we could have had a library like that when I was a kid, rather than crowding into my buddy, Rob’s unfinished basement.
Thank you, to my mom for the link.
Youtube’s Help Links
February 29, 2008
This should have been my first post.
Here are some links from the Youtube page itself with tutorials and other helpful information:
Here are some Youtube videos with helpful tutorials.
I am going to contact Youtube and ask them about what they think their educational utility might be and how we might be able to safely use them in our library. I have some ideas that I will post later but I’m curious to hear what they think first.
A Translation
February 28, 2008
This is one of the most fascinating Youtube videos I found last year.
I am putting my links together but every time I get it where I want to, something comes up that I want to add. Perfect is the antithesis to done, I am finding.
Perfect or not, the links will go up tonight.
More Links to Come
February 23, 2008
I found some interesting articles in librarian’s blogs and will post them up tonight.
But for now, another interesting embedded video:
<object width=”425″ height=”355″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/jwMj3PJDxuo&rel=1″></param><param name=”wmode” value=”transparent”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/jwMj3PJDxuo&rel=1″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” wmode=”transparent” width=”425″ height=”355″></embed></object>
The 21st Century in 120 Seconds
February 21, 2008
“Hey, look! It’s the 21st century in 120 seconds!
Koreans musicans playing German music reinterpreted through an American filter, accompanied by American dance that integrates Chinese acrobatics.”
Joshua Newman, author of Under the Bed and Shock: Social Science Fiction
Youtube Game
February 20, 2008
Go on Youtube and find the raunchiest crap you can.
Seriously.
Try to get inside the minds of the youths in our schools and try to find the things you don’t want a kid seeing. See how the search engine works and what is out there.
If you want to, post a link to something you would fear a parent telling your principal they found in their child’s e-mail folder, saved, found in a library computer lab.
I’ve found everything from white power manifesto’s and holocaust denial to teens stripping for their boyfriends to lame teen pop to Jackass-style stunts that could really get a kid hurt.
It is like a drek treasure-hunt. See what you can find.
Wired Youtube links
February 20, 2008
In our quest to decide if Youtube has a place in our schools, here are a few links, with more to come.
All of the following are from Wired magazine:
“YouTube has announced plans to roll out its full service to many more cellphones. “
” A leading Admiral once said that his best source of intelligence was the television. Now, a top spy says there’s important information to be found on YouTube videos. “
Youtube and CNN team up for debates
” I just left the CNN/YouTube conference call announcing a series of groundbreaking presidential debates designed to involve the Internet community, and I’m inspired.”
These are not articles that I’ve put here to give us concrete data on Youtube’s place in our schools. These are links to show Youtube’s place in the world. It is out there and it is changing the way we use/look at/think about our computers, televisions, news, politics and each other.
The question might not be, does Youtube have a place in our classrooms but how can we use it without the porn advertisements, 13 year old girls pleading with the world to leave Britney alone and such.
Next up, some Youtube themed links from librarian’s blogs.
“Hello, Youtubes!”
February 18, 2008
I am responsible for talking about Youtube on this blog for a while.
Youtube allows folks to post streaming video onto the internet, be it videos to songs they have made up, their favorite heavy metal song over their favorite fight in Dragonball Z or video blogs.
Youtube is a glorious mess and one can’t help but surf around and feel like you are on to something important, a place where the gap between your television and your computer is becoming more and more narrow.
Below I have used one interesting aspect of Youtube and that is the ability to embed a video through cutting and pasting into a blog. The two videos below show some of the fun, creativity and passion that Youtube can highlight.
The first video is a Youtube success story named Ronald Jenkees, whose hip hop beats and love of playing music is on display as he awkwardly introduces his music and then shows an arena where he is not awkward at all, the keyboard:
The second video is a friend of mine, aspiring actor, Shyaporn, whose video, The Asian Response to Asian Responders, shows how Youtube can be used as a vehicle for humorous political commentary:
As a future public school librarian, I am not sure if I see Youtube as a possible place for students to post their video projects or a cess-pool and Myspace-sized mess than I should actively avoid in the classroom at all costs.
The Introduction
February 6, 2008
I have begun a blog about my life as a librarian as part of a class. For the next few months I will be primarily blogging about technology with links and discussion points.
Once this class is done, I hope to keep this blog as a place to blog about professional matters and pertinent links.
My other blog, The Book of Judd, is mostly comprised of geekery, talking about my gaming life as a lover of role-playing games and fantasy/science fiction literature.
I currently work in a university library and find what I miss the most is working with kids in a school environment. Undergraduate and graduate students, along with professors and my fellow staff-folk have very different needs and call upon different skill sets. I’m eager to get back into a public school in the coming months.
Welcome to Judd the Librarian; I don’t have my librarian’s stripes just yet and part of this blog will be about that journey. Judd the Librarian isn’t what I am but is someone I’m in the process of becoming. Thanks for reading.
