Inquiring Minds Want to Know

"la nuit blanche – not retouched" by Dom Dada

"One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions." - Admiral Grace Hopper


Depending on their results, bloggers have reacted with delight, dismay, or indifference to the ratings issued by the Blog Readability Test. Just what the test is evaluating, and how the scores are calculated, is never explained.

A bit of online searching brought me to Juicy Studio, a site whose mission is to "promote best practice for web developers in a fast moving industry." One of the Quality Assurance links takes you to Readability Tests:

"Gunning Fog, Flesch Reading Ease, and Flesch-Kincaid are reading level algorithms that can be helpful in determining how readable your content is. Reading level algorithms only provide a rough guide, as they tend to reward short sentences made up of short words. Whilst they're rough guides, they can give a useful indication as to whether you've pitched your content at the right level for your intended audience."

All three algorithms are used to evaluate any given website. The results are interpreted and compared to the readability of familiar documents, from TV Guide to academic papers.

If you are targeting a particular audience or would just like to analyze your writing, the Juicy Studio test is a far more useful tool than the showier "criticsrant" variation.


"Away with the cant of Measures, not men! -- the idle supposition that it is the harness and not the horses that draw the chariot along. No, Sir, if the comparison must be made, if the distinction must be taken, men are everything, measures comparatively nothing." -George Canning

Can You/Will You Read This Blog?

From the Blue Skunk Blog: The Blog Readability Test

I submitted my blog address, and this was the result. I don't know the criteria and can't decide if such a "classification" will hurt or enhance my readership. So I'm posting the "results" as a one-time oddity and passing on the permanent site badge.

Genius is as genius does.

Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.'" -Genesis 2:16

"That was the birth of sin. Not doing it, but KNOWING about it. Before the apple, [Adam and Eve] had shut their eyes and their minds had gone dark. Now, they peeped and pried and imagined. They watched themselves." -D.H. Lawrence

Adam and Eve were tempted not by the Tree of Life, but by the Tree of Knowledge. Their desire to taste the "forbidden fruit" of this tree resulted in expulsion from Paradise.

Satan/Lucifer declared it "Better to reign in hell than serve in heav'n." (John Milton, Paradise Lost).

Another "light-bearer", Prometheus, risked the ire of Zeus to bring the secret of kindling fire to mortals - and suffered daily torment as a punishment.

The mythologies of many cultures warn men of the consequences of seeking to know that which is hidden or forbidden. Does the greater danger lie in recognizing evil or in being unaware of its existence?

Should we be innocent or armed?

Uploaded on February 13, 2007 by Lawrence OP

Horizons

"We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon." -Konrad Adenauer

I've been thinking about my role as Librarian and how it's changed through the years.

Some of the changes are the result of shifting standards and curricula. But the most meaningful ones, the ones that have transformed my perceptions and shifted my teaching goals, are those that resulted from my participation in an online information literacy course and subsequent headlong dive into blogging.

Many teachers work in professional isolation, regardless of the size of their institution. The problem is magnified for librarians, who are frequently the only media specialist in their building, if not their district.

Discovering an online community with which to interact has been literally a life-altering experience for me. My new cyber colleagues share information, tools, and best practices in a constantly refreshed conversation. They teach in Texas and South Carolina, Australia and Korea. We share successes, dissect failures, and brainstorm possibilities.

It is not always a comfortable environment. There are the occasional philosophical "wars" and critical comments. Sometimes the innovations of others leave me feeling backward or inadequate. But someone always responds to my questions, someone always takes the time to reassure me that my efforts are worthwhile.

My new world is scary, exhilarating, exciting. It's where I want to be; I won't go back.

“Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find the right road.” - Dag Hammarskjold

"porte vers l'horizon" by coincoyote

Comet Holmes

"Comet 17P/Holmes" by Happy Cat Dave

"Comets importing change of times and states,Brandish your crystal tresses in the sky
And with them scourge the bad revolting stars." - William Shakespeare, Henry VI

There is something new in our firmament: Comet Holmes has erupted into a bright "fuzzball" visible to the naked eye.

Discovered in 1892 by Edwin Holmes, the comet, officially named Comet 17/P, occasionally and inexplicably grows in magnitude. Between October 23-24, 2007, it increased in brightness until, by October 25, it appeared as the third brightest star in the Perseus constellation.

My husband lured me away from books and computer to step into the cold, clear night and observe this strange phenomenon. We reminisced about previous celestial events (the Northern Lights) and non-events (the much ballyhooed but ultimately disappointing Comet Khoutek of the early '70s) that we had shared.

And we observed:

“The endless, foolish merriment of stars
Beside the pale cold sorrow of the moon” -Harriet Monroe

If a Tree Falls

*"If a tree falls in the forest and there is nobody around to hear it, does it make a sound?" -Philosophical riddle

I had the great good fortune to hear Joyce Valenza speak about both evidence-based practice and library 2.0 this week. Joyce is a dynamic speaker who manages to convey the importance of the information she shares while simultaneously encouraging and challenging her audience to make a positive difference in the districts where they teach.


Joyce reminded us that the focus of our "noise" should be to advocate for programs that directly impact student learning. Emphasis needs to shift from "what's good for the library" to "what's good for the learners". The treefalls wiki includes links to this and other presentations Joyce has done; it is a "must read" for any educator - not just librarians - who wants to use web 2.o tools to impact student success. And shouldn't that be all of us?


"When there is an original sound in the world, it makes a hundred echoes." -John A. Shedd


*I cheated a bit on the picture: we woke up a few weeks ago to find that a pine in our front yard had fallen over the previous night. We didn't hear it come down, but my husband, who had to cut and remove the pieces, can testify that the tree definitely fell, whether it was heard or not!

Virus

"A bunch of germs were whooping it up
In the Bronchial Saloon.
The bacillus handling the larynx
Was jazzing a gag-time tune,
While back of the tongue in a solo game
Sat Dangerous Ah Kerchoo.
And watching his luck was his light of love
The malady known as Flu." -Cal Beacock

The gift that keeps on giving: one (or more) of our children has shared a virus with me, thankfully a cold and not the flu.

Although I'm a veteran teacher, I do occasionally fall victim to the germs that are sprayed, wiped, and sneezed on us daily. In a K-12 Library, you can't even assume that it's the little ones who are the culprits, since none of the students seem to be inhibited when it comes to distributing viral largesse.

Coincidentally, three eighth grade science classes have begun doing research on viruses. The teacher conferred with me beforehand and we decided on some appropriate medical sources. Friday was their day in the reference section of the LMC. Today, we all headed to the computer lab to continue searching on some sites that the teacher and I had pre-selected. Neither the adults nor the students were pleased to find that many of the web links were blocked by our district filter. The IT tells us that we can request specific addresses be temporarily unblocked, but that teachers do not and will not have override privileges. In some instances, I resorted to using Google cached information to get some facts or statics for the increasingly frustrated researchers.

The experience was as unpleasant as having the flu; and none of the students were "infected" with a desire to participate in similar projects in the future.

What are we trying to protect them from? And what are they losing in the process?


“You can protect your liberties in this world only by protecting the other man's freedom. You can be free only if I am free.” -Clarence Darrow

"influenza_virus" by changturtle

...and then where should we be?

"Do not imagine, comrades, that leadership is a pleasure. On the contrary, it is a deep and heavy responsibility. No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?" –George Orwell, Animal Farm

Item #1
Pulitzer Award-winning columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. recently voiced his outrage over FEMA's "information management". Seems that the Agency called a news conference on very short notice, then planted FEMA staffers in the audience to act as "reporters" and ask mildly phrased questions about government response to the California wildfires.

Pitts cites this as just another example of the Bush
administration "manipulating news and information."

Item #2
The Child Internet Safety Act (CIPA) requires that:

• Schools and libraries subject to CIPA may not receive the discounts offered by the E-Rate program unless they certify that they have an Internet safety policy and technology protection measures in place. An Internet safety policy must include technology protection measures to block or filter Internet access to pictures that: (a) are obscene, (b) are child pornography, or (c) are harmful to minors, for computers that are accessed by minors.

• Schools subject to CIPA are required to adopt and enforce a policy to monitor online activities of minors; and

• Schools and libraries subject to CIPA are required to adopt and implement a policy addressing: (a) access by minors to inappropriate matter on the Internet; (b) the safety and security of minors when using electronic mail, chat rooms, and other forms of direct electronic communications; (c) unauthorized access, including so-called “hacking,” and other unlawful activities by minors online; (d) unauthorized disclosure, use, and dissemination of personal information regarding minors; and (e) restricting minors’ access to materials harmful to them.

In everyday language, this means that schools must filter internet access for all users. If valuable learning resources are blocked (try researching AIDS or even Civil War battles), and no administrator is willing or able to unblock them, at least we can all feel comfortable knowing that our children are "safe". On school computers. When closely supervised. Usually.


Item #3
USA Today reports that the Nashville school system "plans to become the first in the nation to use security cameras that spot intruders with controversial face-recognition technology." Digital photos of all students and staff members will be stored in a database. When the camera spots a face that doesn't match a stored photo, it will automatically alert security team members.

The ACLU denounced the technology as intruding on personal freedom of movement. Some police departments that tried the system have discarded it as unreliable.

No mention was made of how the procedure will prevent Columbine-like situations involving legally registered students with no prior record of violence or misbehavior.


"Big Brother is watching you.” -George Orwell, 1984


"Big Brother is watching you" by Maurosk1

Part of the Team

"Information networks straddle the world. Nothing remains concealed. But the sheer volume of information dissolves the information. We are unable to take it all in." -Gunther Grass

David Warlick started it. His request for comments on "what does Web 2.0 mean to the school library?" inspired me to compose a short but brilliant response...which I couldn't post on my school network, because it routinely blocks any attempt at "interactive" activities.

After returning home at the end of a long, interesting day, I checked in at Twitter, scrolled through Google Reader, and came across a few more edtech postings relevant to Library 2.0.

Carolyn Foote twittered about a free School 2.0 map. The graphic was nicely done - except that it failed to include School Librarians (SLMS) in the circle of people collaborating to help students achieve success. Yes, we are Teachers; but we are also Technologists and Policymakers. I informed the creators of the site that I intend to have my artist husband create a "mini-me" to paste on the poster, suitably labeled. No way I'm going to be left out of that visual!

Over at the Thinking Stick, Jeff Utecht shared a diagram that illustrates the structure necessary to support technology in schools. He described the evolution of Librarian into Literacy/Media specialist and flatly stated that " No matter how you slice it, a school should have a Literacy/Media Specialist" working as a team member along with the Educational Technologists, and Information Technologists. The team's job would be to support the overall use of technology in the school: "from professional development for staff, to teaching research skills to students, to making sure that the network systems are running smoothly."

Librarian, leader and visionary Joyce Valenza has embraced technology. Her wiki, Information Fluency, serves as a constantly expanding repository for information technology resources.

The 21st century Library Media Specialist is no longer just a guardian of knowledge or an all-knowing guru, but more a guide and companion on the search for information. That's my answer to David: Web 2.0 means that the Library is now a concept more than a place. It's not constrained by time or space. Libraries provide resources for living an enriched and networked life. And Librarians exist to help make the necessary connections.

"Not having the information you need when you need it leaves you wanting. Not knowing where to look for that information leaves you powerless. In a society where information is king, none of us can afford that." -Lois Horowitz

Happy Howliday!

“By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes.” -William Shakespeare, Macbeth
Enjoy some images of Halloween in the north country, as students and staff get into the Spirit of things...







...and pumpkins meet their inevitable fate

“From ghosties and ghoulies, And long-leggety beasties, And things that go bump in the night, Good Lord deliver us.”
-Old Scottish Prayer