At democracy’s heart lies a set of paradoxes: a delicate interplay of identity and anonymity, secrecy and transparency. To be sure you are eligible to vote and that you do so only once, the authorities need to know who you are. But when it comes time for you to mark a ballot, the government must guarantee your privacy and anonymity. After the fact, it also needs to provide some means for a third party to audit the election, while also preventing you from obtaining definitive proof of your choice, which could lead to vote selling or coercion.
Building a system that accomplishes all this at once — and does so securely — is challenging enough in the physical world. It’s even harder online, as the recent revelation that Russian intelligence operatives compromised voting systems in multiple states makes clear.
In the decade since the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto published an infamous white paper outlining the idea behind bitcoin, a “peer-to-peer electronic cash system” based on a mathematical “consensus mechanism,” more than 1,500 new cryptocurrencies have come into being.
definition: Nathan Heller in the New Yorker, in which he compares the blockchain to a scarf knit with a single ball of yarn. “It’s impossible to remove part of the fabric, or to substitute a swatch, without leaving some trace,” Heller wrote. Typically, blockchains are created by a set of stakeholders working to achieve consensus at every step, so it might be even more apt to picture a knitting collective creating that single scarf together, moving forward only when a majority agrees that a given knot is acceptable.
Unlike bitcoin, a public blockchain powered by thousands of miners around the world, most voting systems, including Votem’s, employ what’s known as a “permissioned ledger,” in which a handful of approved groups (political parties, election observers, government entities) would be allowed to validate the transactions.
there’s the issue of targeted denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, in which a hacker directs so much traffic at a server that it’s overwhelmed and ceases to function.
Although a distributed ledger itself would likely withstand such an attack, the rest of the system — from voters’ personal devices to the many servers a vote would pass through on its way to the blockchain — would remain vulnerable.
there’s the so-called penetration attack, like the University of Michigan incursion, in which an adversary gains control of a server and deliberately alters the outcome of an election.
While it’s true that information recorded on a blockchain cannot be changed, a determined hacker might well find another way to disrupt the process. Bitcoin itself has never been hacked, for instance, but numerous bitcoin “wallets” have been, resulting in billions of dollars in losses. In early June 2018, a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange was penetrated, causing the value of bitcoin to tumble and resulting in a loss of $42 billion in market value. So although recording the vote tally on a blockchain introduces a new obstacle to penetration attacks, it still leaves holes elsewhere in the system — like putting a new lock on your front door but leaving your basement windows open.
A blockchain is only as valuable as the data stored on it. And whereas traditional paper ballots preserve an indelible record of the actual intent of each voter, digital votes “don’t produce an original hard-copy record of any kind,”
In the end, democracy always depends on a certain leap of faith, and faith can never be reduced to a mathematical formula. The Economist Intelligence Unit regularly ranks the world’s most democratic counties. In 2017, the United States came in 21st place, after Uruguay and Malta. Meanwhile, it’s now widely believed that John F. Kennedy owed his 1960 win to election tampering in Chicago. The Supreme Court decision granting the presidency to George W. Bush rather than calling a do-over — despite Al Gore’s popular-vote win — still seems iffy. Significant doubts remain about the 2016 presidential race.
While little doubt remains that Russia favored Trump in the 2016 election, the Kremlin’s primary target appears to have been our trust in the system itself. So if the blockchain’s trendy allure can bolster trust in American democracy, maybe that’s a net positive for our national security. If someone manages to hack the system, hopefully they’ll do so quietly. Apologies to George Orwell, but sometimes ignorance really is strength.
Understanding what sources to trust is a basic tenet of media literacy education.
Think about how this might play out in communities where the “liberal media” is viewed with disdain as an untrustworthy source of information…or in those where science is seen as contradicting the knowledge of religious people…or where degrees are viewed as a weapon of the elite to justify oppression of working people. Needless to say, not everyone agrees on what makes a trusted source.
Students are also encouraged to reflect on economic and political incentives that might bias reporting. Follow the money, they are told. Now watch what happens when they are given a list of names of major power players in the East Coast news media whose names are all clearly Jewish. Welcome to an opening for anti-Semitic ideology.
In the United States, we believe that worthy people lift themselves up by their bootstraps. This is our idea of freedom. To take away the power of individuals to control their own destiny is viewed as anti-American by so much of this country. You are your own master.
Children are indoctrinated into this cultural logic early, even as their parents restrict their mobility and limit their access to social situations. But when it comes to information, they are taught that they are the sole proprietors of knowledge. All they have to do is “do the research” for themselves and they will know better than anyone what is real.
Many marginalized groups are justifiably angry about the ways in which their stories have been dismissed by mainstream media for decades.It took five days for major news outlets to cover Ferguson. It took months and a lot of celebrities for journalists to start discussing the Dakota Pipeline. But feeling marginalized from news media isn’t just about people of color.
Keep in mind that anti-vaxxers aren’t arguing that vaccinations definitively cause autism. They are arguing that we don’t know. They are arguing that experts are forcing children to be vaccinated against their will, which sounds like oppression. What they want is choice — the choice to not vaccinate. And they want information about the risks of vaccination, which they feel are not being given to them. In essence, they are doing what we taught them to do: questioning information sources and raising doubts about the incentives of those who are pushing a single message. Doubt has become tool.
Addressing so-called fake news is going to require a lot more than labeling. It’s going to require a cultural change about how we make sense of information, whom we trust, and how we understand our own role in grappling with information. Quick and easy solutions may make the controversy go away, but they won’t address the underlying problems.
boyd, danah. (2014). It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens (1 edition). New Haven: Yale University Press.
p. 8 networked publics are publics that are reconstructed by networked technologies. they are both space and imagined community.
p. 11 affordances: persistence, visibility, spreadability, searchability.
p. technological determinism both utopian and dystopian
p. 30 adults misinterpret teens online self-expression.
p. 31 taken out of context. Joshua Meyrowitz about Stokely Charmichael.
p. 43 as teens have embraced a plethora of social environment and helped co-create the norms that underpin them, a wide range of practices has emerged. teens have grown sophisticated with how they manage contexts and present themselves in order to be read by their intended audience.
p. 54 privacy. p. 59 Privacy is a complex concept without a clear definition. Supreme Court Justice Brandeis: the right to be let alone, but also ‘measure of th access others have to you through information, attention, and physical proximity.’
control over access and visibility
p. 65 social steganography. hiding messages in plain sight
p. 69 subtweeting. encoding content
p. 70 living with surveillance . Foucault Discipline and Punish
p. 77 addition. what makes teens obsessed w social media.
p. 81 Ivan Goldberg coined the term internet addiction disorder. jokingly
p. 89 the decision to introduce programmed activities and limit unstructured time is not unwarranted; research has shown a correlation between boredom and deviance.
My interview with Myra, a middle-class white fifteen-year-old from Iowa, turned funny and sad when “lack of time” became a verbal trick in response to every question. From learning Czech to trakc, from orchestra to work in a nursery, she told me that her mother organized “98%” of her daily routine. Myra did not like all of these activities, but her mother thought they were important.
Myra noted that her mother meant well, but she was exhausted and felt socially disconnected because she did not have time to connect with friends outside of class.
p. 100 danger
are sexual predators lurking everywhere
p. 128 bullying. is social media amplifying meanness and cruelty.
p. 131 defining bullying in a digital era. p. 131 Dan Olweus narrowed in the 70s bulling to three components: aggression, repetition and imbalance on power. p. 152 SM has not radically altered the dynamics of bullying, but it has made these dynamics more visible to more people. we must use this visibility not to justify increased punishment, but to help youth who are actually crying out for attention.
p. 153 inequality. can SM resolve social divisions?
p. 176 literacy. are today’s youth digital natives? p. 178 Barlow and Rushkoff p. 179 Prensky. p. 180 youth need new literacies. p. 181 youth must become media literate. when they engage with media–either as consumers or producers–they need to have the skills to ask questions about the construction and dissemination of particular media artifacts. what biases are embedded in the artifact? how did the creator intend for an audience to interpret the artifact, and what are the consequences of that interpretation.
p. 183 the politics of algorithms (see also these IMS blog entrieshttps://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=algorithms) Wikipedia and google are fundamentally different sites. p. 186 Eli Pariser, The Filter Bubble: the personalization algorithms produce social divisions that undermine any ability to crate an informed public. Harvard’s Berkman Center have shown, search engines like Google shape the quality of information experienced by youth.
p. 192 digital inequality. p. 194 (bottom) 195 Eszter Hargittai: there are signifficant difference in media literacy and technical skills even within age cohorts. teens technological skills are strongly correlated with socio-economic status. Hargittai argues that many youth, far from being digital natives, are quite digitally naive.
p. 195 Dmitry Epstein: when society frames the digital divide as a problem of access, we see government and industry as the responsible party for the addressing the issue. If DD as skills issue, we place the onus on learning how to manage on individuals and families.
p. 196 beyond digital natives
Palfrey, J., & Gasser, U. (2008). Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives (1 edition). New York: Basic Books.
John Palfrey, Urs Gasser: Born Digital
Digital Natives share a common global culture that is defined not by age, strictly, but by certain attributes and experience related to how they interact with information technologies, information itself, one another, and other people and institutions. Those who were not “born digital’ can be just as connected, if not more so, than their younger counterparts. And not everyone born since, say 1982, happens to be a digital native.” (see also https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2018/04/15/no-millennials-gen-z-gen-x/
p. 197. digital native rhetoric is worse than inaccurate: it is dangerous
many of the media literacy skills needed to be digitally savvy require a level of engagement that goes far beyond what the average teen pick up hanging out with friends on FB or Twitter. Technical skills, such as the ability to build online spaces requires active cultivation. Why some search queries return some content before others. Why social media push young people to learn how to to build their own systems, versus simply using a social media platforms. teens social status and position alone do not determine how fluent or informed they are via-a-vis technology.
Encyclopedia of Criminal Activities and the Deep Web
Countries all over the world are seeing significant increases in criminal activity through the use of technological tools. Such crimes as identity theft, cyberattacks, drug trafficking, and human trafficking are conducted through the deep and dark web, while social media is utilized by murderers, sex offenders, and pedophiles to elicit information and contact their victims. As criminals continue to harness technology to their advantage, law enforcement and government officials are left to devise alternative strategies to learn more about all aspects of these modern criminal patterns and behavior, to preserve the safety of society, and to ensure that proper justice is served. Regrettably, the lack of adequate research findings on these modern criminal activities is limiting everyone’s abilities to devise effective strategies and programs to combat these modern technology-related criminal activities.
In an effort to compile the most current research on this topic, a new major reference work titled Encyclopedia of Criminal Activities and the Deep Web is currently being developed. This comprehensive Encyclopedia is projected to encompass expert insights about the nature of these criminal activities, how they are conducted, and societal and technological limitations. It will also explore new methods and processes for monitoring and regulating the use of these tools, such as social media, online forums, and online ads, as well as hidden areas of the internet including the deep and dark web. Additionally, this Encyclopedia seeks to offer strategies for predicting and preventing criminals from using technology as a means to track, stalk, and lure their victims.
You are cordially invited to share your research to be featured in this Encyclopedia by submitting a chapter proposal/abstract using the link on the formal call for papers page here. If your chapter proposal is accepted, guidelines for preparing your full chapter submission (which should be between 5,000-7,500 total words in length) can be accessed at: http://www.igi-global.com/publish/contributor-resources/ (under the “For Authors” heading – “Encyclopedia Chapter Organization and Formatting”).
Recommended topics for papers include, but are not limited to:
Bitcoin and Crime
Botnets and Crime
Child Exploitation
Contract Killing
Criminology
Cryptocurrency
Cyber Espionage
Cyber Stalking
Cybercrime
Cybercriminals
Cybersecurity Legislation
Cyberterrorism Fraud
Dark Web
Dark Web Vendors
Darknets
Data Privacy
Dating Websites and Crime
Deep Web
Drug Trafficking
E-Banking Fraud
Email Scams
Fraud and Internet
Gaming and Crime
Government Regulations of the Dark Web
Hacking and Crime
Hacktivism
Human Trafficking
Identity Theft
International Regulations of the Dark Web
Internet Privacy
Internet Regulations
Internet Safety & Crime
Online Advertisement Websites and Crime
Online Blackmail
Online Forums and Crime
Online Hate Crimes
Online Predators
Online Privacy
Social Media Deception
Social Networking Traps
Undercover Dark Web Busts
Undercover Operations
Vigilante Justice
Virtual Currencies & Crime
Whistleblowing
IMPORTANT DATES: Chapter Proposal Submission Deadline: October 15, 2018; Full Chapters Due: December 15, 2018
Note: There are no publication fees, however, contributors will be requested to provide a courtesy to their fellow colleagues by serving as a peer reviewer for this project for at least 2-3 articles. This will ensure the highest level of integrity and quality for the publication.
Should you have any questions regarding this publication, or this invitation, please do not hesitate to contact: EncyclopediaCADW@igi-global.com
Mehdi Khosrow-Pour, DBA Editor-in-Chief Encyclopedia of Criminal Activities and the Deep Web EncyclopediaCADW@igi-global.com
Blockchain: Recommendations for the Information Profession
Monday, September 24, 2018 12:00 pm
Central Daylight Time (Chicago, GMT-05:00)
Blockchain technology is being discussed widely, but without clear directions for library applications. The Blockchain National Forum, funded by IMLS and held at San Jose State University’s iSchool in Summer 2018, brought together notable experts in the information professions, business, government, and urban planning to discuss the issues and develop recommendations on the future uses of blockchain technology within the information professions. In this free webinar, Drs. Sandy Hirsh and Sue Alman, co-PIs of the project, will present the recommendations made throughout the year in the Blockchain blog, Library 2.0 Conference,Blockchain Applied: Impact on the Information Profession, and the National Forum.
Q/S TO ASK: WHAT KINDS OF DATA AND RECORDS MUST BE STORED AND PRESERVES exactly the way they were created (provenance records, transcripts). what kinds of info are at risk to be altered and compromised by changing circumstances (personally identifiable data)
515 rule: BC can be hacked if attacked by a group of miners controlling more than 50% of the network
Standards Issues: BC systems- open ledger technology for managing metadata. baseline standards will impact future options. can BC make management of metadata worth. Is it worth, or more cautious.
Potential Use cases: archives and special collections where provenance and authenticity are essential for authoritative tracking. digital preservation to track distributed digital assets. BC-based currencies for international financial transactions (to avoid exchange rates ILL and publishing) . potential to improve ownership and first sale record management. credentialing: personal & academic documents (MIT already has transcripts and diplomas of students in BC – personal data management and credentialing electronically).
public libraries: house docs of temporarily displaced or immigrants. but power usage and storage usage became problems.
a city south of Denver CO is build right now, and will be build on these principles.
benefits for recordkeeping: LOCKSS (lot of copies keeps stuff safe) – Stanford U; chain of custody (SAA Glossary); Trust and Immutability (BC) vs confidentiality and performance (dbase)
Libarians role: need to understand BC (how does it work and what can it do for us; provide BC education for users; use BC in various applications
recommendations from National Forum:
ASIS&T presentation in Vancouver, Nov. 2018; MOOC on BLockchain Basics; Libary Futures Series, BOok3 Alman & Hirsh
https://www-wired-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.wired.com/story/187-things-the-blockchain-is-supposed-to-fix/amp
Blockchains, which use advanced cryptography to store information across networks of computers, could eliminate the need for trusted third parties, like banks, in transactions, legal agreements, and other contracts. The most ardent blockchain-heads believe it has the power to reshape the global financial system, and possibly even the internet as we know it.
Now, as the technology expands from a fringe hacker toy to legitimate business applications, opportunists have flooded the field. Some of the seekers are mercenaries pitching shady or fraudulent tokens, others are businesses looking to cash in on a hot trend, and still others are true believers in the revolutionary and disruptive powers of distributed networks.
Mentions of blockchains and digital currencies on corporate earnings calls doubled in 2017 over the year prior, according to Fortune. Last week at Consensus, the country’s largest blockchain conference, 100 sponsors, including top corporate consulting firms and law firms, hawked their wares.
Here is a noncomprehensive list of the ways blockchain promoters say they will change the world. They run the spectrum from industry-specific (a blockchain project designed to increase blockchain adoption) to global ambitions (fixing the global supply chain’s apparent $9 trillion cash flow issue).
Things Blockchain Technology Will Fix
Bots with nefarious intent
Skynet
People not taking their medicine
Device storage that could be used for bitcoin mining
Apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Viber
Felix Krause described in 2017 that when a user grants an app access to their camera and microphone, the app could do the following:
Access both the front and the back camera.
Record you at any time the app is in the foreground.
Take pictures and videos without telling you.
Upload the pictures and videos without telling you.
Upload the pictures/videos it takes immediately.
Run real-time face recognition to detect facial features or expressions.
Livestream the camera on to the internet.
Detect if the user is on their phone alone, or watching together with a second person.
Upload random frames of the video stream to your web service and run a proper face recognition software which can find existing photos of you on the internet and create a 3D model based on your face.
For instance, here’s a Find my Phone application which a documentary maker installed on a phone, then let someone steal it. After the person stole it, the original owner spied on every moment of the thief’s life through the phone’s camera and microphone.
The government
Edward Snowden revealed an NSA program called Optic Nerves. The operation was a bulk surveillance program under which they captured webcam images every five minutes from Yahoo users’ video chats and then stored them for future use. It is estimated that between 3% and 11% of the images captured contained “undesirable nudity”.
Hackers can also gain access to your device with extraordinary ease via apps, PDF files, multimedia messages and even emojis.
An application called Metasploit on the ethical hacking platform Kali uses an Adobe Reader 9 (which over 60% of users still use) exploit to open a listener (rootkit) on the user’s computer. You alter the PDF with the program, send the user the malicious file, they open it, and hey presto – you have total control over their device remotely.
Once a user opens this PDF file, the hacker can then:
Install whatever software/app they like on the user’s device.
Use a keylogger to grab all of their passwords.
Steal all documents from the device.
Take pictures and stream videos from their camera.
Capture past or live audio from the microphone.
Upload incriminating images/documents to their PC, and notify the police.
And, if it’s not enough that your phone is tracking you – surveillance cameras in shops and streets are tracking you, too
You might even be on this website, InSeCam, which allows ordinary people online to watch surveillance cameras free of charge. It even allows you to search cameras by location, city, time zone, device manufacturer, and specify whether you want to see a kitchen, bar, restaurant or bedroom.
Victor Pickard, associate professor of communication at the University Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School, whose research focuses on internet policy and the political economy of media.
with each new victory for the American telecommunications oligopoly, that digital optimism fades further from view.
Definition:
Net neutrality protections are essentially safeguards that prevent internet service providers (ISPs) from interfering with the internet. Net neutrality gives the FCC the regulatory authority to prevent ISPs like Comcast and Verizon from slowing down or blocking certain types of content. It also prevents them from offering what’s known as paid prioritization, where an ISP could let particular websites or content creators pay more for faster streaming and download times. With paid prioritization an ISP could shake down a company like Netflix or an individual website owner, coercing them to pay more in order to be in the fast lane.
Net neutrality often gets treated as a sort of technocratic squabble over ownership and control of internet pipes. But in fact it speaks to a core social contract between government, corporations, and the public. What it really comes down to is, how can members of the public obtain information and services, and express ourselves creatively and politically, without interference from massive corporations?
Should we think of the internet as a good, a service, an infrastructure, or something else?
It’s all of the above.
The internet has been radically privatized. It wasn’t inevitable, but through policy decisions over the years, the internet has become increasingly commodified. Meanwhile it’s really difficult to imagine living in modern society without fast internet services — it’s no longer a luxury but a necessity for everything ranging from education to health to livelihood. The “digital divide” is a phrase that sounds like it’s from the 1990s, but it’s still very relevant. Somewhere around one fifth of American households don’t have access to wireline broadband services. It’s a social problem. We should be thinking about the internet as a public service and subsidizing it to make sure that everyone has access.
In your recent book on media democracy, you discuss the rise of what you call “corporate libertarianism.” What is corporate libertarianism and how does it relate to net neutrality?
Corporate libertarianism is an ideological project that has origins at a core moment in the 1940s. It sees corporations as having individual freedoms, like those in the First Amendment, which they can use to shield themselves from public interest oversight and regulation. It’s also often connected to this assumption that the government should never intervene in markets, and media markets in particular. (My note: Milton Friedman)
Of course, this is a libertarian mythology — the government is always involved. The question ought to be how it should be involved. Under corporate libertarianism it’s assumed that the government should only be involved in ways that enhance profit maximization for communication oligopolies.
There are clear dangers associated with vertical integration, where the company that owns the pipes is able to control the dissemination of information, and able to set the terms by which we access that information.
There have been cases like this already. In 2005, the company Telus, which is the second largest telecommunications company in Canada, began blocking access to a server that hosted a website that supported a labor strike against Telus.
Net neutrality is just one part of the story. What other regulations, policies and interventions could resist corporate control of the internet?
Roughly half of Americans live in communities that have access to only one ISP. My note: Ha Ha Ha, “pick me, pick me,” as Dori from “Finding Nemo” will say… Charter, whatever they will rename themselves again, is the crass example in Central MN.
Strategies to contain and confront monopolies:
break them up, and to prevent monopolies and oligopolies from happening in the first place by blocking mergers and acquisitions.
if we’re not going to outright nationalize them then we want to heavily regulate them, and enforce some kind of social contract where they’re compelled to provide a public service in exchange for the right to operate.
create public alternatives, like municipal wireless networks that can circumvent and compete with corporate monopolies. There’s a growing number of these publicly owned and governed internet infrastructures, and building more is crucial.
how data is produced, collected and analyzed. make accessible all kind of data and info
ask good q/s and find good answers, share finding in meaningful ways. this is where digital literacy overshadows information literacy and this the fact that SCSU library does not understand; besides teaching students how to find and evaluate data, I also teach them how to communicate effectively using electronic tools.
connecting people tools and resources and making it easier for everybody. building collaborative, open and interdisciplinary
robust data computational literates. developing workshops, project and events to practice new skills. to position the library as the interdisciplinary nexus
what are data: definition. items of information, facts, traces of content and form. higher level, conception discussion about data in terms of social effects: matadata capturing information about the world, social political and economic changes. move away the mystic conceptions about data. nothing objective about data.
the emergence of IoT – digital meets physical. cyber physical systems. smart objects driven by industry. . proliferation of sensor and device – smart devices.
what does privacy looks like ? what is netneutrality when IoT? library must restructure : collaborate across institutions about collections of data in opien and participatory ways. put IoT in the hands of make and break things (she is maker space aficionado)
make and break things hackathons – use cheap devices such as Arduino and Pi.
data literacy programs with higher level conception exploration; libraries empower the campus in data collection. data science norms, store and share data to existing repositories and even catalogs. commercial services to store and connect data, but very restrictive and this is why libraries must be involved.
linked data and dark data
linked data – draw connections around online data most of the data are locked. linked data uses metadata to link related information in ways computers can understand.
libraries take advantage of link data. link data opportunity for semantics, natural language processing etc. if hidden data is relative to our communities, it is a library responsibility to provide it. community data practitioners
dark data
massive data, which cannot be analyzed by relational processing. data not yield significant findings. might be valuable for researchers: one persons trash is another persons’ treasure. preserving data and providing access to info. collaborate with researchers across disciplines and assist decide what is worth keeping and what discarding and how to study.
rich learning experience working with lined and dark data enable fresh perspective and learning how to work with data architecture. data literacy programming.
in context of data is different from open source and open projects. the social side of data science . advising researchers on navigation data, ethical compilations.
open science movement .https://cos.io/ pushing beyond licences and reframe, position ourselves as collaborators
analysis and publishing ; use tools that can be shared and include data, code and executable files.
reproducibility and contestability https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/events/series/summer-of-open-science
In the age of Big Data, there is an abundance of free or cheap data sources available to libraries about their users’ behavior across the many components that make up their web presence. Data from vendors, data from Google Analytics or other third-party tracking software, and data from user testing are all things libraries have access to at little or no cost. However, just like many students can become overloaded when they do not know how to navigate the many information sources available to them, many libraries can become overloaded by the continuous stream of data pouring in from these sources. This session will aim to help librarians understand 1) what sorts of data their library already has (or easily could have) access to about how their users use their various web tools, 2) what that data can and cannot tell them, and 3) how to use the datasets they are collecting in a holistic manner to help them make design decisions. The presentation will feature examples from the presenters’ own experience of incorporating user data in decisions related to design the Bethel University Libraries’ web presence.
silos, IT barrier, focusing on student success, retention, server space is cheap, if
promotion and tenure for faculty can include incentive to work with the librarian
lack of fear, changing the mindset.
deep collaboration both within and cross-consortia
don’t rely on vendor solutions. changing mindset
development = oppty (versus development as “work”)
private higher education is PALNI
3d virtual picture of disastrous areas. unlock the digital information to be digitally accessible to all people who might be interested.
they opened the maps of Katmandu for the local community and they were coming up with the strategies to recover. democracy in action
i can’t stop thinking that the keynote speaker efforts are mere follow up of what Naomi Klein explains in her Shock Doctrine: http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine: a government country seeks reasons to destroy another country or area and then NGOs from the same country go to remedy the disasters
A question from a librarian from the U about the use of drones. My note: why did the SCSU library have to give up its drone?
Douglas County Library model. too resource intensive to continue
Marmot Library Network
ILS integrated library system – shared with other counties, same sever for the entire consortium. they have a programmer, viewfind, open source, discovery player, he customized viewfind community to viewfind plus. instead of using the ILS public access catalogue, they are using the Vufind interface
Caiifa Enki. public library – single access collection. they purchase ebooks from the publisher and they are using also the viewfind interface. but not integrated with the library catalogs. Kansas public library went from OverDrive to Viewfind. CA State library is funding for the time being this effort.
types of content – publisher will not understand issue, which clear for librarians
PDF and epub formats
purchase content –
title by title selection – academia is tired of selections. although it is intended to buy also collections
library – owned ( and shared collections)
host content from libraries – papers in academic lib, genealogy in pub lib.
options in license models .
e resource content. not only ebooks, after it is taken care of, add other types of digital objects.
instead of replicate, replacement of the commercial aggregators,
Amigos Shelf interface is the product of the presenter
instead of having a young reader collection as SCSU has on the third floor, an academic library is outsourcing through AMigos shelf ebooks for young readers
Harper Collins is too cumbersome and the reason to avoid working with them.
security issues. some of the material sent over ftp and immediately moved to sftp
decisions – use of internal resources only, if now – amazon
programmer used for the pilot. contracted programmers. lack of the ability to see the large picture. eventually hired a full time person, instead of outsourcing. RDA compliant MARC.
ONIX, spreadsheet MARC.
Decision about who to start with : public or academic.
attempt to keep pricing down –
own agreement with the customers, separate from the agreement with the Publisher
current development: web-based online reading, shared-consortial collections and SIP2 authentication
Library marketers crave media attention and coverage, but most don’t know how to get it. The first step is having a Press Room as part of your library’s website. This workshop, led by a member of the media who’s also a library marketing expert, shows you how to build a Press Room that works. It includes how your library benefits from having an online Press Room, even if you don’t have a marketing department; where it belongs in your website hierarchy; what content members of the press expect to find there; SEO basics and PR tactics to lead reporters to your online Press Room; why building relationships with the media is vital; how press coverage affects your library’s usage, funding, brand recognition, and position in the community. Help ensure positive coverage by adding this strategic tool to your website.
In this half-day workshop, a former advertising executive and trainer of strategic storytelling in marketing shares secrets on how to create video that has an impact on your community. Join her to shoot, edit, and polish a video while gathering tips, techniques, and strategies to create your own video-a medium which grabs communities in exciting new ways!
W10: Implementing an Internet of Things Infrastructure & Apps
9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
May Chang, Assistant Director, LibraryTechnology, East Carolina University
Mehdi Mohammadi, Graduate Assistant, Western Michigan University
The Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming widespread in academia as well as industry. It refers to connecting smart objects with built-in unique identifiers and sensors to communicate with each other autonomously. This enables actionable insights and ultimately makes the environment around us smarter. This workshop looks at how libraries can incorporate the IoT and reviews different aspects of developing an IoT infrastructure and creating your own application. It is based on four layers of IoT application architecture: the physical layer, the communications layer, application and services layer, and data analytics. Speakers discuss the potentials and challenges of IoT applications, including the footprint of IoT applications, i.e., a high volume of sensory data, the tools and methods for data analytics. As a case study, they focus on location-aware applications using iBeacons and smartphone sensors to show how all the IoT elements work together. Gain a better understanding of the usefulness of IoT in libraries, learn the main elements and underlying technologies of IoT applications, and understand the difference between a wide range of IoT devices, protocols and technologies to choose the right ones for your IoT application. Get budget and resource estimates and more. Come with a basic understanding of JavaScript/ HTML5/ CSS and your laptop for hands-on development practice. An instruction document will be provided for the attendees to prepare their system before the workshop.
W15: Tech Trends for Libraries in 2017 & Beyond
1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
David Lee King, Digital Services Director, Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library and Publisher, davidleeking.com
Technology has changed the face of libraries and is continuing to change how we work and how we deliver services to customers. This workshop introduces emerging technology trends and shows how those trends are reshaping library services. Examples are provided of how to incorporate these evolving trends into libraries. Attendees learn what trends to look for, find out the difference between a technology trend and a fad, and get ideas on how their library can respond to technology as it emerges.
W16: UX Design for Broader Discovery
1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Stephanie Rosso, Principal Web Developer, Hennepin County Library
Amy Luedtke, Senior Librarian, Information Programs and Services, Hennepin County Library
While patrons have embraced using online technology to access their public library, most of these interactions are limited to borrowing transactions. If libraries are to be truly relevant in the digital world, we need to nudge patrons out of the well-worn pattern of log-in/transact /log-out and find ways to get them to linger long enough to discover the richness the library has to offer beyond borrowing items, while offering them opportunities to add their own voice to the library’s online community. This workshop explores design patterns and techniques for introducing content to patrons at appropriate moments in their learned workflows. It considers how to encourage patrons to add their voice to the library community and overcome concerns about privacy and security. It shares research and experience from BiblioCommons and Hennepin County Public Library’s efforts and looks at analogs from other domains. Workshop participants will be asked to participate actively in a hands-on session to solve a specific design challenge in teams.
My note: Ha. Even the public library understands that service goes beyond “borrowing items” and must have “patrons to add their voice.” Only in the academic library, prevails the opinion that librarians are those omnipotent and all-knowing lecturing types.
B103: Website Redesign: Techniques & Tools
1:15 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Dana Haugh, Web Services Librarian, Stony Brook University
Roy Degler, Associate Professor, Digital Library Services, Digital Resources and Discovery Services, Oklahoma State University
Join three web experts to learn about tips, tools, and techniques for taking the pain out of website redesigns. Haugh provides advice on the visual design of your next site and shows some examples of library web redesigns. Degler takes a look at why many libraries are using popular, free, CSS-based frameworks such as Bootstrap; explains how the grid layout works; and shows how the built-in responsive design layouts can deliver a site that works on desktop, smartphones, and tablets.Often the biggest challenge in redesign isn’t the visual design, content management system or coding. It’s the people and politics. Everyone thinks they know what the library website should look like, but no two people—let alone groups—can ever agree. How do you move ahead with a library redesign when you’re facing conflicting demands from the administration, co-workers, users, and stakeholders? Mitchell tackles this challenge head on and points out the weapons that we have at hand—from data to documentation; and discusses how to wield those weapons effectively to win (almost) any fight in order to build a great website. Grab lots of insights and ideas from this experienced panel.
C102: Digital Literacy & Coding Program Models
11:15 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Karen Walker, E-Services & Digital Access Manager, Jacksonville Public Library
Brandy McNeil, Associate Director – Tech Education & Training, The New York Public Library
Steven Deolus, Technology Training Program Coordinator, TechConnect (Technology Training Program Department), The New York Public Library
This session looks at how one library created a technology class and programming model that spans a 21-branch, 844-square-mile library system. It discusses mobile classrooms and how Chromebooks, MacBooks, tablets, and other equipment are used to create “classrooms” throughout the system. It shares how the library is focusing on members and programming for the community, for instance, the development of Spanish language, 50+ and immigrant/refugee programming. It looks at developing new programs and instructors using the 3D model from printer to pens, from tablets to coding, from core expertise to everyone. NYPL speakers discuss how coding is the new black! They discuss how to launch a coding program at your library, how to expand the age range of current coding programs, how to promote events related to your program to gain participants, how to get staff buy-in, how to educate staff, and how to create partnerships with some of the biggest names in the game. The NYPL Tech- Connect program will help you plan out all your needs to take your existing or non-existing coding programs further.
My note: one more proof that digital literacy is not “information literacy dressed in the new verbal cloth” of “digital literacy,” but entails way more topics, skills and knowledge. Information Literacy is a 1990s concept. Time to upgrade to 2016 concepts and recognize that digital literacy requires skills beyond handling information. Moreover, information today is way more complex then the skills being taught, since information from social media is more complex then information from news media and it entails technology skills, which one does not have to preside upon for handling news media
E104: From Textbook to Activism: Engaging Students in Social Issues They Care About
2:15 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Janie Pickett, Head Librarian, Eureka High School, Eureka, Mo.
Anna Gray, Social Studies Teacher, Eureka High School, Eureka, Mo.
recent collaborative effort between a high school social studies teacher and a school librarian transformed a “same-old” unit on social movements in the 20th century into a dynamic study of effective social activism—and how students can become effective activists. Using both primary and secondary resources, students learned to analyze social issues, then to identify the type of activism that proved effective for those issues. Next, students selected social situations important to them, analyzed the changes they sought to effect, and determined a means of activism to effect that change in practical—and often surprising—ways. The project’s design and implementation is straightforward and replicable. This session provides concrete steps to follow, specific patterns for locating learning resources, and reproducible forms that educators can carry back to their own campuses.
B202: Managing Tech & Innovation
11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Jen Baum Sevec, Senior Metadata and Acquisitions Librarian, Library Of Congress
Brett Williams, Systems & Liaison Librarian, University of Toronto Mississauga
Sevec offers leaders at any level the opportunity to up their game by learning current management strategies for technology and innovation. Library leaders and constituents engage in the nearly constant interplay of enabling technology and innovations to explore a wealth of information and greater depth of data in the Information Age. A framework for managing this interplay is provided as well as an understanding of the dynamic lifecycle inherent in technological innovations and constituent demands. Williams provides an introduction to Wardley Value Chain Mapping, an innovative IT planning processes discussed by Simon Wardley on his blog Bits and Pieces. He shares specific examples of how this tool can be used by systems librarians, library administrators, and library IT decision makers.
B203: Finding Your Social Media Voice
1:45 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Meghan Kowalski, Head, Preservation, The Catholic University of America
Kirsten Mentzer, Technology Specialist, Northern Virginia Community College’s Medical Education Campus
Alexandra Radocchia Zealand, Web Editor, New Media Developer and Video Producer, Web Team, Arlington Public Library PLA, VLA, ALA, LLAMA
Lennea R. Bower, Program Specialist, Virtual Services, Montgomery County Public Libraries
This session provides an in-depth look at how to speak in social media. Each institution and organization’s social media accounts has a personality. How you say something is just as important as what you say and why you say it. Your voice on social media says a lot to your followers. If done well, your tone will help to attract and keep an audience. The wrong kind of voice will turn people away. Finding the right voice can be difficult and involves a lot of trial and error. Speakers provide tips for finding the right voice and presenting the best personality for your intended followers. Social media is no longer the “new kid on the block,” and the panel highlights the best ways to communicate content, being real, tone, and more. They showcase what kinds of tones can be used and how to find the “real voice” for your accounts, why those voices are (or are not) successful for those accounts; and how to make your chosen voice sustainable and consistent across your accounts.
C203: Migrating & Developing With Drupal
1:45 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
June Yang, Senior Librarian, International Monetary Fund
Linda Venable, Systems Librarian, International Monetary Fund
Elizabeth Zoby, Information Specialist, PAE, National Institute of Corrections (NIC)
Billy Mathews, Web Developer, PAE, National Institute of Corrections (NIC)
Migrating to a new ILS system is not easy, and it is even more challenging when faced with a very tight deadline. Presenters share the recent experience of migrating from SirsiDynix Symphony to Alma within 5 months: what worked, what didn’t, lessons learned, and what to prepare in advance of the migration. They also share some insight about post migration work related to data cleanup, workflows review, etc. Zoby and Mathews share their development of the NIC micro-sites using Drupal, an open-source content management software, to create dynamic websites that make accessing material easy and user-friendly. Instead of having to download and shift through large PDF documents, users can access the content on easily searchable websites which can be edited by authorized users. See how the NIC Information Center is using these sites to help customers and the public access information in innovative ways.
D202: Funding Opps for Digital Library Initiatives
11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Trevor Owens, Digital Archivist, Office of Strategic Initiatives, Library Of Congress
Nicole Ferraiolo, Program Officer, Scholarly Resources, Council on Library & Information Resources
Joel Wurl, Senior Program Officer, National Endowment for the Humanities
Discovering and deciphering guidelines for grant programs is a daunting and challenging process. This session provides an opportunity to directly hear from and ask questions about grant opportunities for digital libraries’ initiatives to program officers from different government and private funders. Following brief overviews of the relevant funding opportunities at their organizations, panelists discuss the kinds of projects that best fit their specific programs. Get suggestions on how to develop a competitive proposal and insights on the application and review process. Panelists consider themes and trends from the digital library projects that have received funding, such as digitization, open educational resources, linked data, crowdsourcing, open access publishing, emulation and virtualization, and data visualization. By bringing together representatives from different funders, this session offers a unique opportunity to connect directly with program officers and identify new opportunities and approaches for funding.
A301: Augmented Reality & Learning
10:45 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Ashley Todd-Diaz, Head, Special Collections & University Archives, Towson University
Earl Givens, Head, Systems & Technology, Catawba College
Art Gutierrez, Head, Technical Services, Emporia State University
Bethanie O’Dell, Virtual Learning Librarian, Emporia State University
Just when you thought the battle of augmented reality (AR) was over with Pokémon GO, libraries across the nation have been exploring additional AR options in order to meet the needs of the mobile learners walking through their doors. With the use of free AR software, four individuals team up to become the ultimate masters of AR. Hear from a panel of closely networked professionals, each with a unique story of embedding AR into specific library services directed for higher education. These stories range from embedding AR with liaison departments to incorporating AR into information literacy sessions (both online and face-to-face).
A304: Multimodal Learning: From Textbooks to Playlists
Colleges, universities, and libraries are considering adding video making, or visual literacy, as a core skill. Preparing individuals for a highly visual communication landscape requires critical thinking to offset consumerism as well as multimodal learning and cognitive skills. Researching, creating, and sharing video playlists are important ways to create personalized learning pathways and promote continuous learning. Explore a number of case studies that demonstrate the positive learning outcomes of multimodal learning in academic and corporate settings and discover how to create playlists that can be annotated, edited, and shared across teams.
B304: Raspberry Pi
2:45 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
David Bennett, Systems Librarian, Robert Morris University
Raspberry Pi is an inexpensive computing tool that is ideal for new projects within libraries. It’s a powerful single board computer that plays high-definition video, yet it’s only the size of a credit card. The Raspberry Pi 3 was released in February of 2016, and the built-in networking options make it an exciting fit for library applications. Learn how Raspberry Pi can be used as a people counter, a dedicated OPAC, a social media tool, and more.
D302: Upping Our “Gamification”: Speaking Millennials’ Language
11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
David Folmar, Emerging Technology Librarian, Main Branch, Richmond Public Library Author, Game It Up! Using Gamification to Incentivize Your Library
Be tech-smart and culture-savvy by using game-design thinking and gaming activities to connect with current users in a fun way and draw in new ones. Hear from a library communicator who literally wrote the book on this topic. Online games are incredibly popular; libraries, book apps, and learning institutions are leveraging this to bring in new audiences and engage with existing ones in new ways. Why are they doing this, what is the benefit, and how do you make it work to promote your library? Get the answers here!
Video is a powerful, emotional storytelling medium that plays well in social media, and its use is still fast-growing. Video can spread your library’s story, and you can do it without hiring an expensive pro. A tech-savvy info pro shares basic video facts, along with her favorite tools, tips, and techniques that almost anyone can use for creating short, compelling videos to promote library services, staffers, and resources.
My note: my mouth ran dry to repeat this to the SCSU library. In vain. 1. make a low-cost social-media type of movie of 30 sec each week/month. 2. post on a prominent place on the library web page. 3. Have web form harvest info from patrons on the issu[s] reflected in the video 4. mirror video on the social media 5. aim as ultimate goal patrons (students, faculty, staff) furbishing the video footage instead of library staff
Why is it soooo difficult to comprehend?
E302: Zero to Maker: Invention Literacy & Mobile Memory Lab
11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Dominique China, Information Services Librarian, Brampton Library
Colleen Dearborn, Adult Services Librarian, Alsip-Merrionette Park Library, Alsip, Ill.
Invention literacy is not just about understanding how a thing is made or how it works; it is also the ability to use that knowledge to bring one’s own ideas into reality. China gives examples of how one public library is empowering children, teens, and adults to become “invention-literate” through its maker programming. Find out how a combination of high- and low-tech equipment, safe and accessible learning environments, and a unique community partnership is nurturing invention, creative confidence, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Sparked by the CIL 2016 Hawkins and Mears talk about personal digital archiving and the DCPL Memory Lab, Dearborn shares her library’s inexpensive journey to create a mobile memory lab program. She discusses the acquisition of equipment and technology, the demo classes, lesson plans about personal archiving, outreach to other community organizations, and providing classes on related topics, such as saving and uploading images, backing up files and using cloud storage, writing and self-publishing memoirs, conducting oral interviews with veterans and other family memories, coding and saving memories on a website, etc. Future plans include digitizing local history documents, a community website with links to these documents, as well as to our patrons’ digitized images, videos, interviews and memoirs.
This report is based on a DVD “Drones on Campus. UAS Issues for the Higher Education Community” of February 2, 2016. The DVD contains a PDF file and flattened media file with a voice-narrated PPT based on the information from the PDF.
The DVD is a commercial product for sale for the Higher Ed. It is the recoding of a commercial seminar for Higher Ed, led by a lawyer (Lisa Ellman, lisa.ellman@hoganlovells.com, Twitter handle @leelellman) from the legal practice Hogan Lovells and by employee from FAA.
The information below represents the main points from the PDF / PPT presentation, as well as additional information with clarifications, which I added while working with the PDF and PPT files.
Discussion topics:
How and when UAS can be approved for flying at SCSU
The effect on SCSU of the domestic UAS legal framework
Public – UAS owned and operated by government agencies and organizations, such as public university a public COA (certificate of waiver of authorization) is issued by the FAA to a public agency/organization for public aircraft operations most aspects of public aircraft operations are not subject to FAA oversight If we are a public university… can we operate UAS under a public COA?
in order to operate under a public COA< the UAS must be operated by the university for a “core governmental function, which is defined as:
“… and activity undertaken by a government, such as national defense, intelligence missions, firefighting, search and rescue, law enforcement (including transport of prisoners, detainees, and illegal aliens), aeronautical research, or biological or geological resource management.
In an FAA Office, it was clarified that “aeronautical research” must be focused on the development and testing of the UAS itself, rather than the thing being observed and monitored using the UAS.
Civil
Any private sector (non-governmental) operation of a drone for purposes other than recreation or hobby is considered a “civil” operation
This category covers all commercial use of UAS, including use by private universities and colleges
Summary Grant Exemption / Blanket COA conditions and COA conditions and limitations:
Below 200 feet
Within visual line-of-sight of the pilot and visual observer
At least 500 feet from nonparticipating persons, vessels, vehicles, or structures, unless certain conditions met
Over private or controlled access property with consent
Visual observer required
Pilot must have an FAA issues pilot certificate and a medical certificate or DL
Mussed give a way to all manned aircraft
SCSU must apply for section 333 exemption – FAA has granted 3.129 out of 4500 applications. FAA current goal: 50+ exemption grants per week
QA regarding exemption / blanket COA requirements
Small UAS Rule: June 2016 (IMS blog)
Must be < 55 lbs
Max altitude speed 500 feet / 100 mph
Minimum visibility 3 miles
UAS always yield right-of-way to other aircraft
UAS cannot be operated recklessly
Registration and marking required
Hobbyist operators: December 21, 2015
All UAS >.55 pounds and less than 55 pounds must be registered either using the new online system or the FAAs existing paper-based registration system before the UAS can be operated outdoors
UAS within that right range purchased prior to December 21, 2015 must be registered by February 19, 2016
Hobbies required to submit basic contact info, such as name, address email. Costs $5 to register hobbyist owner’s entire fleet of UAS. The FAA will issue a single CAR (certificate of aircraft registration) with one registration number that can be used for and should be put on each UAS. Every 3 years, renewal.
Boggs v Meredith. How high do airspace rights extend over private property
Up to 83 feet in the air
Other legal liability issues:
Trespass
Nuisance
Mitigating UAS Legal Liabilities
When hiring a UAS server provider
Seek to shift and limit liability through contract
Vendors operating UAS on university property should sing a written agreement
Ensure the UAS service provider has adequate insurance
Incidents/accidents involving personal injury or property damage
Lost-link events (AKA fly-aways)
UAS maintenance and inspection
UAS flight crew training / qualifications
Participant / property owner consent
Faculty/staff/student qualifications and training
Privacy policies, data management, retention
Consent and notification requirements for operating near people and structures
Outline of immediate tasks:
Based on the information above:
SCSU, LRS in particular, must decide what drone’s certificate to apply for: a. model; b. public; c.civil; or d. hobbies
After selection of certificate type, SCSU, LRS in particular, must register the drone[s].
SCSU, LRS in particular, must develop policies for service, operation and maintenance.
SCSU, LRS in particular, must assign person[s] in charge of the training, maintenance and operation.
Suggestions and recommendations:
Hosting a drone in the library.
If to adhere to the ALA call for the librarians to be the forefront of technology on campus, LRS can use the drone purchased in April 2014 to train and lend the drone for research on campus.
If LRS continues the policy of the previous dean, further suggestions below can be waved off.
Training, maintenance and operation
Shall LRS keep the drone, the best person to conduct the training and service of the drone will be an IMS faculty. As per email correspondence attached below, please have again the rational:
– hosting the drone with Circulation (staff) does not provide the adequate academic/research services. It is expected that the foremost users will be faculty, students and then staff and the foremost use will be academic and then leisure activities. While IMS faculty can meet the “leisure activities” for all three constituency, as it has been provided by the Circulation staff until this point, the IMS faculty can also provide the research and academic service, which Circulation staff is not educated neither trained for. With that said, the point made is not against staff not participating in the effort to train and service campus with the drone; it just makes the point that charging staff with that task is limited and against the best interest of the faculty and students on campus.
– blocking the effort of IMS faculty to lead technology-oriented services on campus, LRS in particular.
Upon hiring of a “technology” librarian, previous dean Mark Vargas blocked any technology-related activities by IMS faculty: e.g. 3d printer AKA makerspace, gaming and gamification, drones, etc.
If I am to understand well, the “technology” librarian’s charge must be toward automated library systems and similar, rather than educational use of multimedia and interactivity. Blocking IMS faculty to do what they do best by freezing any of their efforts and reserving “technology” for [unknown] future leadership of the “technology” librarian is a waste of IMS faculty expertise and knowledge.
Gaming and Gamification (https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2015/03/19/recommendations-for-games-and-gaming-at-lrs/) charge by previous dean Mark Vargas to the first-year “technology” librarian revealed as obvious that giving the preference to junior faculty to “lead” an effort can become a dangerous tool in the hands of the administration to manipulate and slow down efforts of educational trends of time-sensitive character. While, as from the beginning, the collaboration of the “technology” librarian has been welcomed and appreciated, it does not make sense from any cultural or institutional perspective, to put in charge a new faculty, who does not have the knowledge and networking of the campus, less the experience and knowledge with multimedia and interactive tools as the rest of the seasoned IMS faculty. Decision and consequent refusal of the “technology” librarian to work with the IMS faculty did not contribute to improvement of the situation.
A very important point, which goes against the “consensus” efforts of the previous dean, is the fact that now the library faculty is using the newly-hired “technology” librarian to hinder further the integration of the IMS faculty as part of LRS by using her as a focal point for any technology initiative in LRS, thus further excluding the IMS faculty from LRS activities. It will help: 1. delineate the expertise parameters of the “technology” librarian and 2. have the librarian faculty think about their work with the IMS faculty, which has been a thorny issue for more than 10 years now (pretty much since the hire of the bulk of the reference librarians).
If there are questions, or the need of more information, please do not hesitate to request.
Plamen Miltenoff, Ph.D., MLIS
Professor
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
From: Miltenoff, Plamen Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2016 9:44 AM To: Banaian, King <kbanaian@stcloudstate.edu> Subject: request to release the library drone
Dr. Banaian,
My name is Plamen Miltenoff and I am faculty with the InforMedia Services of the SCSU Library. I have worked in the last 15+ years with faculty, students and staff on educational technology and instructional design. I hold two doctoral degrees in education and four master’s degrees in history and Library and Information Science.
I have extensive background in new educational technologies, which is amply reflected in the following blog: https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/. Shall more proof of my abilities is needed, here is detailed information about publications, presentations and projects, which I have accomplished: http://web.stcloudstate.edu/pmiltenoff/faculty/
In the spring of 2014, Mark Vargas purchased a drone. As per my job description and long experience working with faculty across campus with other technologies, I immediately alerted SCSU faculty who have strong interest in applying drone’s technology in their studies, research and teaching, assuming that the newly-appointed library director (Mark Vargas) will support my years-long efforts.
Due to complications with FAA regulations the drones across the country were grounded.
Mark Vargas “stationed” it with the library Access Services, a unit, which is comprised of staff only. When I approached the library staff from Access Services, they chose to not collaborate with me, but rather deflect me to Mark Vargas.
As per my email to Mark Vargas of July 21, 2015 (attachment 1), I requested an explanation and shared my feeling that SCSU faculty are being left in disadvantage after I witness the drone being used. I also asked my immediate supervisor Mark Vargas about the policies and release conditions. Unfortunately, my repeated requests remained unanswered.
I am turning to you as the appointed administrator-in-charge of the library (attachment 2), with the request that you share the amounted paperwork regarding the drone. Mark Vargas did not share that information, despite numerous requests, e.g., if the drone is registered, etc.
I am seeking your administrative approval to pursue the completion of the paperwork and secure immediate usability of the drone, so it is available also to all interested SCSU faculty with or without my participation (as per regulations). The request is timely, since such technologies are aging quickly. Besides the depreciation of the technology, SCSU students and faculty deserves being kept with the times and explore a technology, which is rapidly becoming a mainstream, rather than novelty.
Please consider that I am the only library member with terminal degrees in education as well as extensive experience with technologies in general and educational technologies in particular. I am also the only library member with extensive network among faculty across campus. I am perceived by colleagues across campus more often as a peer, collaborator and research partner, then merely a service provider, as most of the library staff and faculty consider themselves. I am the only library member, who sits on theses and doctoral committees and the invitations to these committees are greatly based on my experience in educational technologies and my research and publishing skills. Leaving the drone in the Access Services, as appointed by the previous administrator, will result in a dormancy of technology as it has happened with numerous other technologies on this campus. It is a waste of equipment, which this university cannot afford in the respective financial times. Letting me take the lead of the drone project will secure active promotion and better application of this technology and possibly other venues (e.g. grants) to pursue further endeavors.
and direct oral and written communication with you, I have expressed strong academic interest in research of this technology for educational purposes. I have the educational background and experience for the aforementioned request.
I am asking you for access to this technology since early summer of 2014.
I would like to be informed what your plan for this technology is and when it will be open to the LRS faculty. I also would like to know when preference to LRS staff is given when technology is concerned, so I can plan accordingly.
Thank you and looking forward to hearing from you soon.
As you are aware, Mark Vargas has submitted his resignation as Dean of Learning Resources Services. Mark’s last day on campus was Friday, June 10, 2016.
I want to assure you that any decision about interim leadership will be made after careful consideration of the needs of the Library and the University. I will continue conversations with various individuals, including the President, to ensure we have strategic alignment in both support and oversight for LRS. LRS is committed to providing excellent services to our students, faculty, and staff, creating opportunities for knowledge, and serving the public good. I look forward to working together with you to accomplish these goals.
I expect to identify an interim dean shortly and to begin a national search this fall with an appointment to begin July 1, 2017. I have asked Greta to schedule a time for me to visit with faculty and staff in Learning Resource Service next week. In the meantime, Dean King Banaian will serve as the administrator-in-charge of LRS until June 30, 2016.
