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I had no idea there were so many schools bestowing a Master’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction.

Oh my dog, I pay dues to this organization? Yet another occasion to wonder why I do so …

Really, there are so many things wrong with that job posting, it’s hard to know where to begin. I am, however, a total stickler about spelling Website with that lovely capital W. To further nitpick the ALA, I would point out that later in the same ad they say, “… web site design, web-based usability …” It’s either w or W, but, for heaven’s sake, pick one or the other and ride that horse. The copy in this ad is abominable.

On a more serious level, calling information technology and librarianship (why these are capitalized in the ad begs explanation) two universes just perpetuates several negative stereotypes, and is so out of touch with reality. Sigh.

Two *uni*verses? Oy, I do hope whoever wrote that is kicking him/herself. I’m telling Grammar Girl on them.

I can’t say much about this ad, other than that for me it was far more important to get the damn thing out there than anything else. It’s a lovely starting point for applicants to discuss things they would change. ;-) I’m having to learn to let the whole W/ebsite and e-mail (don’t get me started) thing go, at least for now. Ommmmmmmm….

In the Web Editorial Board (WEB) meetings, I’ve been very vocal that we need to instill real authority in this position, so my hope is that this person will have *a lot* of impact by being able to just “make it so.” We need a strong person, but I’m also ready to put every ounce of support and clout I have behind them, as is everyone else on the WEB (little web, too!).

I think we can all agree that despite the ad’s flaws, this is a “Martha Stewart good thing.” An honest-to-gosh usability company is designing the new home page and navigation (the last iteration before implementation begins will be available during midwinter), and this person will only enhance that work. There is still plenty of time for them to have input into the process, especially during implementation, where it will be more valuable anyway. Where they’ll be really valuable, though, is with all of the day-to-day, web-based services that fail so miserably because of poor language, lack of clear instructions, and obtuse processes.

No doubt this person is in for a long haul (so I was glad to see a decent salary attached), but there are certainly a lot of us chomping at the bit to help and support them. This is very much a positive thing. People have [rightly] been screaming about this for so long and now ALA’s leadership is finally doing something about it, so I have to give them credit for this, even if it did take longer than it should have. This is *exactly* the kind of thing I as a member want my dues to go towards.

Oh, and we’re adding “or in a related field” to the HCI requirement, so that should appear on the ad soon.

I think they are calling “two universes” becasue at ALA, it IS two universes. Much like many libraries - IT and non-IT are in two very separate worlds, and they rarely seem to work together.

Or to answer Jessamyn’s question about “why those are deemed to be two universes” - it’s because they were allowed to do that. The “big boss person” simply needs to say “enough! IT won’t drive us anymore - instead, we’ll drive IT.”

is that a metaphor? if so, they been mixed. it’s been so long since I had to remember that stuff. so they can have two universes but they want to pack them into one global vision? so you’re encouraged to ignore 99.999% of those universes and focus on one globe? just acknowledging that information technology and librarianship are separate universes should be enough to cause a rift that brings golden age Flash into the same comic panel as silver age Flash; and you know what happened then? no? oh, too nerdy for you? well, it was bad.

‘Officer’ always sounds good, I think. I hope it means something. I hope it means that the incumbent will have the *authority to bring about*, as well as responsibility for, usability. But it probably doesn’t.

Re. ‘universes’. As if it weren’t enough that our own professional organization’s Website sucks; now I see that it has no idea what we do. Makes me want to reconsider membership. ‘Cept that *you-all* are so darn cool.

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One obvious example of a computer game that could be useful to older adults: typing tutors. For the shifting industry sector, I think a typing tutor could be a great boon (eg. shifting from factory work to call-centre work would require some typing proficiency).

I’ve also heard tell of the Wii being interesting to (some) older adults. Folks who used to bowl or play tennis can enjoy their favorite sports without the sports injuries that go with them.

I have to say though, that when I’m on my gaming fetishes (there’s been a recent one, which explains my lack of blogging), I feel less productive. It’s also hard to pin-point precisely what the learning benefits of gaming are. Can’t say my Diablo stint has really done that much for me. Civilization was great for learning the first time around — now it’s just a time-waster.

That said, you could say the same about most recreational books as well. It’s just that I seem to be more willing to avoid [what I consider] fluff when it comes to books. Games have more an addictive feel, leaving me a bit “fast-food-ish” when I’m done. Thank goodness I’ve beaten Diablo and can now get on with my stinking life. :)

I got my mother into Yahoogames, The Sims and a few other point and click type games a few years back. I loved the familiarity they gave her with using interfaces - if she’s confronted by a non-standard interface, she no longer freezes. She uses the mouse better. She’s faster with everything. That may have come with time, but the games made it all easier.

I can tell you that plenty of the younger new Canadians at my local public library learned how to work a computer by watching their friends play various games on the machines in the library. Sure it might not be perfect but they are now ready to use the computers to do research and email thanks to their game playing lessons.

We sometimes use casual games like Solitaire or memory match or an online paint by numbers or Jigzone as a way to get some older adults to practice their mouse skills. We also explain WHY we’re having them play the games and try to find something that appeals to them. No point forcing them to play Solitaire if they’ve never played it before and hate it, especially since people generally learn better when they expect that knowledge to be useful. (It’s the brain efficiency thing once you get older. You don’t form those neural pathways for everything you do anymore like you did as a kid–you’re most likely to easily store and retrieve information you know you’ll use. See? You aren’t getting dumber. Your brain is getting more efficient!)

Anyways, I think the article was interesting but confusing, as it seemed to wander through a bunch of different types of technology literacy training, talking about games but then going on to computer hardware and reprogramming classes… It could have used more focus.

Jessamyn, do you think Facebook is a US thing - because over here I’d say MySpace has cornered the younger ‘blogging’ demographic. (Nice for Rupert.)
I do wonder fleetingly if there are some demographic lines that can be drawn around certain applications - LiveJournal for writers is another example that comes to mind.

That’s a really good question, I wonder if Facebook is a USian phenomenon. I know that because I logged in to MySpace when I was in Australia they now set my dates in European format (10-06-07 for today for example) even though I never said “oh hey I’m Australian!)

At Huddersfield (UK), there are 3,580 Facebook users registered in the “Uni. Huddersfield” network, which would equate to about 20% of the total student population. We have a large number of mature students, and I suspect they’re less likely to have accounts that the 18-21 year olds.

Facebook is the third most visited external web site from on-campus (Google is first, followed by MySpace, with the BBC site and Yahoo in fourth & fifth places).

As soon as I get some spare time, I’m going to try and integrate library account info (holds, items due back soon, fines, etc) and personalised book recommendations into Facebook.

We already make all of that data available (either as RSS feeds or as stuff that appears once you’ve logged into your OPAC account), so it shouldn’t be too difficult.

At the university library where I work part-time, Facebook has been so popular, that at times it almost crashed their network. At the community college where I work full-time, MySpace rules and Facebook has very few users. Same town, similar demographic. *shrug*

Note that the most popular application on Facebook is iLike, with almost 3 million users, giving music recommendations.

There’s room for someone to do a huge book recommendation network on Facebook & no doubt that it would get similar sorts of traffic.

I also went to SecondLife based on info from various library/techno blogs. It doesn’t seem to be very practical, and I haven’t heard my students speak of it at all. I plan on returning to it occassionally just to fly. If you see Kaitie Oh while you’re there, say “Hi” to me and let me know you’re also a librarian!

Thanks for the YouTube. I enjoyed the drive, as it reminded me of driving along the coast in California. I love seeing where water and land meet (having grown up in land locked west Texas.) I was glad to see at the end that you were not driving.