11 Temmuz 2012 Çarşamba
What if my dog (or cat, or bird, or...) outlives me? Why a pet trust can help.
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10 Temmuz 2012 Salı
9 Temmuz 2012 Pazartesi
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I took Beth to camp last week in Groton, MA. Beth is a mentally challenged individual- I think that's the politically correct term for it, who I do respite care for. So I drove her and her mom 2.30 hours up to camp, spent the whole day checking her in, then got home at sunset. Longgggg day! 2 days later I got a call saying that she had been very sick and needed to come home early. I guess she caught some sort of a virus because Beth rarely ever get's sick. So back we went to pick her up. Even though her week was cut short she still managed to enjoy the time there, making new friends and doing fun things. She is supposed to be moving into a group home sometime in July/Aug. for the first time. The only other place she has ever lived is with me, for a year. So this should be really good for both her and her mom, who's now 78 I believe. I'm excited for her new adventure in life!
I took Beth to camp last week in Groton, MA. Beth is a mentally challenged individual- I think that's the politically correct term for it, who I do respite care for. So I drove her and her mom 2.30 hours up to camp, spent the whole day checking her in, then got home at sunset. Longgggg day! 2 days later I got a call saying that she had been very sick and needed to come home early. I guess she caught some sort of a virus because Beth rarely ever get's sick. So back we went to pick her up. Even though her week was cut short she still managed to enjoy the time there, making new friends and doing fun things. She is supposed to be moving into a group home sometime in July/Aug. for the first time. The only other place she has ever lived is with me, for a year. So this should be really good for both her and her mom, who's now 78 I believe. I'm excited for her new adventure in life!
Sports & Psychology
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Pain, vision, and prosthetics ... the August 8 issue of Sports Illustrated covers it all, with a sports twist. Yes, I am ready for some football, which is why when I saw Nnamdi Asomugha on the cover of the library's issue of Sports Illustrated, I picked it up. I kept reading David Epstein's great "special report" on Sports Medicine.
The most interesting, cognitive science-ly speaking, is this: The Truth About Pain: It's In Your Head, by Epstein. In which he talks about how stress-induced analgesia (SIA) -- "the temporary absence of pain" due to stressful events -- manifests for athletes. Hint: it helps cyclists get to the finish line after a long race up a very steep hill.
Also of interest to cognitive science folks is Epstein's article It's All About Anticipation, in which he explains why MLB hitters can't hit softball pitches. It's not because they're too slow, but because the hitters are so unfamiliar with softball pitchers' pitching style. There's a neat sidebar about visual acuity and high performance athletes: most can see at 20-15, but some can even see at 20-9 -- vastly better than the majority of folks whose acuity has been tested.
Epstein does a nice job explaining the science correctly and understandably.
royalty-free image from stock.xchng.
Pain, vision, and prosthetics ... the August 8 issue of Sports Illustrated covers it all, with a sports twist. Yes, I am ready for some football, which is why when I saw Nnamdi Asomugha on the cover of the library's issue of Sports Illustrated, I picked it up. I kept reading David Epstein's great "special report" on Sports Medicine.The most interesting, cognitive science-ly speaking, is this: The Truth About Pain: It's In Your Head, by Epstein. In which he talks about how stress-induced analgesia (SIA) -- "the temporary absence of pain" due to stressful events -- manifests for athletes. Hint: it helps cyclists get to the finish line after a long race up a very steep hill.
Also of interest to cognitive science folks is Epstein's article It's All About Anticipation, in which he explains why MLB hitters can't hit softball pitches. It's not because they're too slow, but because the hitters are so unfamiliar with softball pitchers' pitching style. There's a neat sidebar about visual acuity and high performance athletes: most can see at 20-15, but some can even see at 20-9 -- vastly better than the majority of folks whose acuity has been tested.
Epstein does a nice job explaining the science correctly and understandably.
royalty-free image from stock.xchng.
Why We Get Fat, with @GaryTaubes
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The People's Pharmacy radio show is one of my favorites: Joe and Terry Graedon interview interesting scientists who speak intelligently about their topic (my recent listens included asthma and searching for health information online)
I was particularly impressed with their August interview with Gary Taubes, author of the 2011 book Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It. I had read his 2002 New York Times magazine article "What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?" and it was great to hear him discuss the fat vs. carbohydrate controversy in terms of the current obesity epidemic.
Taubes is a great science writer who can explain complex topics simply and clearly. His New York Times magazine pieces on sugar (2011) and fat (2002) are relatively easy -- if very troubling -- reads.
I first became aware of The People's Pharmacy folks, Joe and Terry Graedon, at the 2011 Science Online Conference. I enjoy their 2011 book The People's Pharmacy Quick & Handy Home Remedies. I suspected I would like their radio show ... but I didn't realize I would come to include it in my "favorite science podcasts" category. Thanks, Science Online, for continuing to give the gift of science!
Brief Bibliography of Gary Taubes' Work
The People's Pharmacy radio show is one of my favorites: Joe and Terry Graedon interview interesting scientists who speak intelligently about their topic (my recent listens included asthma and searching for health information online)I was particularly impressed with their August interview with Gary Taubes, author of the 2011 book Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It. I had read his 2002 New York Times magazine article "What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?" and it was great to hear him discuss the fat vs. carbohydrate controversy in terms of the current obesity epidemic.
Taubes is a great science writer who can explain complex topics simply and clearly. His New York Times magazine pieces on sugar (2011) and fat (2002) are relatively easy -- if very troubling -- reads.
I first became aware of The People's Pharmacy folks, Joe and Terry Graedon, at the 2011 Science Online Conference. I enjoy their 2011 book The People's Pharmacy Quick & Handy Home Remedies. I suspected I would like their radio show ... but I didn't realize I would come to include it in my "favorite science podcasts" category. Thanks, Science Online, for continuing to give the gift of science!Brief Bibliography of Gary Taubes' Work
- Gary Taubes' Blog
- Good Calories, Bad Calories : Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Diet, Weight Control, and Disease. New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2007.
- Is Sugar Toxic?, New York Times magazine article, April 13, 2011.
- What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?, New York Times magazine article, July 7, 2002.
- Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It, New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2011.
Stephanie's Favorite Songs, 2011
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As always, it was a good year for music! I've completed my favorite song list of 2011 and posted it on Spotify.
The full list, in song order, is below, with a few annotations here & there.
Foster The People – Pumped Up Kicks A great song to kick off the collection, it also kicks off a short gun-themed set. Note that the collection ends with a gun-themed song too.
Imelda May – Johnny Got A Boom Boom
Danger Mouse – Two Against One (feat. Jack White) Danger Mouse's Rome CD was amazing - I chose 2 songs for this collection, but there are many more great songs too.
Chris Difford – Like I Did Good for all the rock-loving parents out there, and quite a lovely tune too.
Diego Garcia – Under This Spell I'm guessing Amy's Leo will like this one.
Gomez – Options
Imelda May – I'm Alive Sounds quite a bit like Nick Lowe; and each of the 3 Imelda May songs here sound different from each other.
Nick Lowe – Shame on the Rain Yeah, I should have included his song "I Read A Lot" but this fit better.
The Steep Canyon Rangers – Atheists Don't Have No Songs Steve Martin is amusing here. This song kicks off a short (and hopefully not-too-offensive) religion set.
The Dirt Daubers – Wake Up, Sinners
Eliza Gilkyson – 2153
Eleanor Friedberger – Heaven
Emmylou Harris – Big Black Dog A great sing-along song, whether you have a dog or not. It's fun for cat lovers too.
Iron & Wine – Tree By The River How can you not love a song with this lyric: "I mean the world to a potty-mouth girl, with a pretty pair of blue-eyed birds." ?!
Danger Mouse – Black (feat. Norah Jones)
Sarah Jarosz – Annabelle Lee
Robbers On High Street – Second Chance Thanks to Amy for alerting me to Robbers on High Street; this isn't the song she first recommended, but it's quite a fun song anyway.
Garland Jeffreys – Rock On The first of two covers; I want to pair this one with Spiders & Snakes.
Imelda May – Tainted Love The start of this song makes me think of the Waitresses, which surely was intentional.
Noah And The Whale – Just Me Before We Met My favorite line: "don't be shy; be brave little champion."
Peter Bjorn And John – Tomorrow Has To Wait
Angus and Julia Stone – Big Jet Plane Lolhusband doesn't like that there is only one lyric here, but I love how it sounds.
Thomas Dolby – Road To Reno It's been a long time since he's had a new album, and this was worth waiting for.
If CDs were more than 80 minutes, we'd have more songs here ... but these are the cream of the 2011 crop.
The full list, in song order, is below, with a few annotations here & there.
Foster The People – Pumped Up Kicks A great song to kick off the collection, it also kicks off a short gun-themed set. Note that the collection ends with a gun-themed song too.
Imelda May – Johnny Got A Boom Boom
Danger Mouse – Two Against One (feat. Jack White) Danger Mouse's Rome CD was amazing - I chose 2 songs for this collection, but there are many more great songs too.
Chris Difford – Like I Did Good for all the rock-loving parents out there, and quite a lovely tune too.
Diego Garcia – Under This Spell I'm guessing Amy's Leo will like this one.
Gomez – Options
Imelda May – I'm Alive Sounds quite a bit like Nick Lowe; and each of the 3 Imelda May songs here sound different from each other.
Nick Lowe – Shame on the Rain Yeah, I should have included his song "I Read A Lot" but this fit better.
The Steep Canyon Rangers – Atheists Don't Have No Songs Steve Martin is amusing here. This song kicks off a short (and hopefully not-too-offensive) religion set.
The Dirt Daubers – Wake Up, Sinners
Eliza Gilkyson – 2153
Eleanor Friedberger – Heaven
Emmylou Harris – Big Black Dog A great sing-along song, whether you have a dog or not. It's fun for cat lovers too.
Iron & Wine – Tree By The River How can you not love a song with this lyric: "I mean the world to a potty-mouth girl, with a pretty pair of blue-eyed birds." ?!
Danger Mouse – Black (feat. Norah Jones)
Sarah Jarosz – Annabelle Lee
Robbers On High Street – Second Chance Thanks to Amy for alerting me to Robbers on High Street; this isn't the song she first recommended, but it's quite a fun song anyway.
Garland Jeffreys – Rock On The first of two covers; I want to pair this one with Spiders & Snakes.
Imelda May – Tainted Love The start of this song makes me think of the Waitresses, which surely was intentional.
Noah And The Whale – Just Me Before We Met My favorite line: "don't be shy; be brave little champion."
Peter Bjorn And John – Tomorrow Has To Wait
Angus and Julia Stone – Big Jet Plane Lolhusband doesn't like that there is only one lyric here, but I love how it sounds.
Thomas Dolby – Road To Reno It's been a long time since he's had a new album, and this was worth waiting for.
If CDs were more than 80 minutes, we'd have more songs here ... but these are the cream of the 2011 crop.
Field trip to Durham's @LifeandScience museum! #scio12
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I was thrilled to go on a behind the scenes tour of Durham's fabulous Museum of Life and Science at last week's ScienceOnline conference. Here is an annotated visual tour of the trip, with photos taken by several of us on the tour. I used Storify to curate the images, which were posted on Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube (the bear video is awesome; especially the last 10-20 seconds).
Thanks especially to Keeper Mikey for the tour!
Thanks especially to Keeper Mikey for the tour!
8 Temmuz 2012 Pazar
Maloccluded No More.. An Update on Charley
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We met Charley back in November 2009, a young bunny at a shelter, days away from euthanasia due to his dental condition. His case taught me not only about rabbit malocclusion, but also about maintaining hope in a desperate situation, and more specifically, about the importance of giving every shelter animal a fighting chance, despite medical setbacks.
It occurred to me today that you all might want an update on his whereabouts and even see a few pictures of him in his new life.
Believe it or not, Charley was adopted by an amazing woman who already owned a toothless rabbit, Pedro, (and a fully-toothed one as well, Rico)-- both of whom had also been adopted from the House Rabbit Network. She sends me regular updates and pictures of him and his brothers. Suffice it to say, he is one lucky rabbit. I'll leave it to the pictures for the rest of the story.
Charley has a happy ending. I hope these pictures remind you of what each animal deserves and what each animal loses when they are denied a chance at life. Shelters are overcrowded and euthanasia for space purposes is still a relevant reality. Remember the direct link between adoption and overpopulation. Spay and neuter your pets. Talk to others about the importance of spaying and neutering. Volunteer. Fundraise. Donate. Educate. Inspire those around you. And perhaps most importantly, don't lose the meaning of "one by one." When in doubt, remember what that "one" means to Charley.
It occurred to me today that you all might want an update on his whereabouts and even see a few pictures of him in his new life.
Believe it or not, Charley was adopted by an amazing woman who already owned a toothless rabbit, Pedro, (and a fully-toothed one as well, Rico)-- both of whom had also been adopted from the House Rabbit Network. She sends me regular updates and pictures of him and his brothers. Suffice it to say, he is one lucky rabbit. I'll leave it to the pictures for the rest of the story.
Charley has a happy ending. I hope these pictures remind you of what each animal deserves and what each animal loses when they are denied a chance at life. Shelters are overcrowded and euthanasia for space purposes is still a relevant reality. Remember the direct link between adoption and overpopulation. Spay and neuter your pets. Talk to others about the importance of spaying and neutering. Volunteer. Fundraise. Donate. Educate. Inspire those around you. And perhaps most importantly, don't lose the meaning of "one by one." When in doubt, remember what that "one" means to Charley.
Tips on Saving Bunny Money
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Most owners know that rabbits are not cheap pets-- their medical care as exotic animals can add up, and they seem to love chewing on your most expensive items (clothes, furniture, equipment, etc.). However, there are several easy ways to reduce the costs of their daily care and manage your rabbit expenses more effectively.
Hay
Buying small bags of hay from commercial pet stores can get expensive fast! Buying hay directly from a farmer (check out or contribute to the national hay database) can cut costs way down. Ordering hay in 50 lb boxes online from farms is already a bargain compared to the small bags from pet stores, but taking a trip to a local farmer to buy a bale is really the way to go. A bale of Timothy hay, which can last several months, typically costs about $10.
Vegetables
Ask your local grocery store to collect their vegetable scraps for you. Grocery stores throw away tons of perfectly good veggies, including carrot, beet, and radish tops, or the outer layers of lettuces, cabbages, and other greens. Farmer's markets are also a fantastic source for free vegetables. Be sure to never use vegetables that look wilted or old and wash everything extra carefully. Another idea is to try growing your own mint (which grows like a weed), parsley or other herbs in your garden.
Litter
A little insider knowledge here can save you some big bucks! If you use Yesterday's News, buy the bags in the cat litter section, as they tend to be much cheaper per pound than the bags sold in the small animal section. Another economical option is to buy wood stove pellets from a hardware store (like Lowe's). A 40lb bag can cost you around $6, depending on where you live. Wood stove pellets are similar to Feline Pine litter, and work just as well, but are up to three times cheaper.
The Litterbox
A litterbox is really just a plastic box, so why pay extra money for a fancy cat litterpan from a pet store, when you can grab a shallow plastic box from Walmart for half the price?
Toys
There are a lot of expensive bunny toys available, but it seems more often than not, rabbits just love playing with old fashioned toys that don't cost a cent, like cardboard boxes, toilet paper rolls stuffed with hay, and cardboard tunnels or castles. Buying baby toys (like plastic keys on a ring, etc.) can be cheaper than a similar product sold in a pet store. Just make sure that the plastic is hard, and not the "teething" kind, which can be chewed and ingested.
And one thing not to skimp on...
Pellets
There's a wide variety of pellets available, with a wide variety of price tags. You don't need to go for the most expensive bag out there, but you do need to make sure the first ingredient is Timothy hay, as opposed to Alfalfa. Alfalfa-based products tend to be cheaper, and you might have to pay noticeably more for the high-quality Timothy-based ones, but with all the money you've saved with the other techniques, this should be a fair trade off!
Graysie contemplating the various aspects of personal finance.
Hay
Buying small bags of hay from commercial pet stores can get expensive fast! Buying hay directly from a farmer (check out or contribute to the national hay database) can cut costs way down. Ordering hay in 50 lb boxes online from farms is already a bargain compared to the small bags from pet stores, but taking a trip to a local farmer to buy a bale is really the way to go. A bale of Timothy hay, which can last several months, typically costs about $10.
Vegetables
Ask your local grocery store to collect their vegetable scraps for you. Grocery stores throw away tons of perfectly good veggies, including carrot, beet, and radish tops, or the outer layers of lettuces, cabbages, and other greens. Farmer's markets are also a fantastic source for free vegetables. Be sure to never use vegetables that look wilted or old and wash everything extra carefully. Another idea is to try growing your own mint (which grows like a weed), parsley or other herbs in your garden.
Litter
A little insider knowledge here can save you some big bucks! If you use Yesterday's News, buy the bags in the cat litter section, as they tend to be much cheaper per pound than the bags sold in the small animal section. Another economical option is to buy wood stove pellets from a hardware store (like Lowe's). A 40lb bag can cost you around $6, depending on where you live. Wood stove pellets are similar to Feline Pine litter, and work just as well, but are up to three times cheaper.
The Litterbox
A litterbox is really just a plastic box, so why pay extra money for a fancy cat litterpan from a pet store, when you can grab a shallow plastic box from Walmart for half the price?
Toys
There are a lot of expensive bunny toys available, but it seems more often than not, rabbits just love playing with old fashioned toys that don't cost a cent, like cardboard boxes, toilet paper rolls stuffed with hay, and cardboard tunnels or castles. Buying baby toys (like plastic keys on a ring, etc.) can be cheaper than a similar product sold in a pet store. Just make sure that the plastic is hard, and not the "teething" kind, which can be chewed and ingested.
And one thing not to skimp on...
Pellets
There's a wide variety of pellets available, with a wide variety of price tags. You don't need to go for the most expensive bag out there, but you do need to make sure the first ingredient is Timothy hay, as opposed to Alfalfa. Alfalfa-based products tend to be cheaper, and you might have to pay noticeably more for the high-quality Timothy-based ones, but with all the money you've saved with the other techniques, this should be a fair trade off!
Graysie contemplating the various aspects of personal finance.
Celebrate Petfinder's Birthday by Sending in Your Adoption Story!
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March 15, 2011 will be Petfinder.com's 15th birthday! This revolutionary website has not only helped unite hundreds of thousands of homeless pets with their adoptive parents, it also tirelessly works to educate and entertain the public with their blog, message boards, library of articles on pet health, behavior, training, and much more. To celebrate this exciting milestone, Petfinder.com is staging a takeover of the Internet on March 15. This will entail a massive awareness explosion about adoption and shelter animals by numerous participating pet-centric blogs.
In honor of this momentous occasion, here at The Rabbit Advocate, I am hosting a rabbit adoption story contest. Send in a picture and story (up to 100 words) of how you and your bunny friend found each other and I will post a winner here on March 15th. Let's all get to writing!
March 15, 2011 will be Petfinder.com's 15th birthday! This revolutionary website has not only helped unite hundreds of thousands of homeless pets with their adoptive parents, it also tirelessly works to educate and entertain the public with their blog, message boards, library of articles on pet health, behavior, training, and much more. To celebrate this exciting milestone, Petfinder.com is staging a takeover of the Internet on March 15. This will entail a massive awareness explosion about adoption and shelter animals by numerous participating pet-centric blogs.
In honor of this momentous occasion, here at The Rabbit Advocate, I am hosting a rabbit adoption story contest. Send in a picture and story (up to 100 words) of how you and your bunny friend found each other and I will post a winner here on March 15th. Let's all get to writing!
And the Winner of the Adoption Story Contest is...
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...Kelly S. in Boston, MA!
"As a small animal volunteer at the local shelter, I’m always fighting the urge to adopt. “Our apartment is too small,” “my boyfriend would never agree to adopt a rabbit,” and “how would our cats react?” were typical thoughts that reminded me I was not in a position to adopt a small animal. However, everything changed when Bunnicula, a large New Zealand rabbit, was brought to the shelter. The sign on the window of her cage stated that her previous owners no longer had time to care for her. I opened the door to her cage that first day and Bunnicula hopped right over to me, giving my hand a little nudge to let me know she wanted attention. I remember thinking that she was so calm and gentle, despite her large size. As the months went by, I saw many of the smaller rabbits get adopted, but Bunnicula remained at the shelter. Maybe people we intimidated by her size, or her white fur and bright pink eyes. But to me, she was perfect, and I knew it was time to give this wonderful bunny her forever home.
Bunnicula (or Boo as we like to call her) is the perfect addition to our family. I found out that our apartment could easily handle a rabbit, my boyfriend has a soft spot for bunnies, and that cats and rabbits can be best friends. We couldn’t imagine our family without our Boo!"
What a wonderful story! And it has a great moral too-- to never judge a book by it's cover. When choosing a pet for adoption, sometimes we can get really caught up in certain looks or specific breeds that we imagine for ourselves. Kelly and Boo remind us that personality and character are what really matter when picking a best friend. New Zealands generally have laid-back, outgoing personalities but can have trouble finding homes because of their large size or red eyes (personally, I think they look like beautiful rubies). In honor of Petfinder's "Adopt the Internet Day" and Boo's story, here are a handful of Petfinder profiles of available New Zealands in the midwest:
Whitley, in Brownsburg, IN, via EARPS Exotic Animal Rescue
Louie, in Louisville, KY, via Indiana HRS
Mo, in Louisville, KY, via Indiana HRS
Rosey, in Urbana, IL, via Champaign County Humane Society
Angel, in Madison, WI, via Wisconsin HRS
Floyd, in Plymouth, MI, via Midwest Rabbit Rescue and Rehome
Petfinder.com is so great because you can see pictures and read descriptions of animals' personalities, allowing you to find the perfect match for your family. Hoppy 15th birthday Petfinder and congrats to our contest winner!
"As a small animal volunteer at the local shelter, I’m always fighting the urge to adopt. “Our apartment is too small,” “my boyfriend would never agree to adopt a rabbit,” and “how would our cats react?” were typical thoughts that reminded me I was not in a position to adopt a small animal. However, everything changed when Bunnicula, a large New Zealand rabbit, was brought to the shelter. The sign on the window of her cage stated that her previous owners no longer had time to care for her. I opened the door to her cage that first day and Bunnicula hopped right over to me, giving my hand a little nudge to let me know she wanted attention. I remember thinking that she was so calm and gentle, despite her large size. As the months went by, I saw many of the smaller rabbits get adopted, but Bunnicula remained at the shelter. Maybe people we intimidated by her size, or her white fur and bright pink eyes. But to me, she was perfect, and I knew it was time to give this wonderful bunny her forever home.
Bunnicula (or Boo as we like to call her) is the perfect addition to our family. I found out that our apartment could easily handle a rabbit, my boyfriend has a soft spot for bunnies, and that cats and rabbits can be best friends. We couldn’t imagine our family without our Boo!"
What a wonderful story! And it has a great moral too-- to never judge a book by it's cover. When choosing a pet for adoption, sometimes we can get really caught up in certain looks or specific breeds that we imagine for ourselves. Kelly and Boo remind us that personality and character are what really matter when picking a best friend. New Zealands generally have laid-back, outgoing personalities but can have trouble finding homes because of their large size or red eyes (personally, I think they look like beautiful rubies). In honor of Petfinder's "Adopt the Internet Day" and Boo's story, here are a handful of Petfinder profiles of available New Zealands in the midwest:
Whitley, in Brownsburg, IN, via EARPS Exotic Animal Rescue
Louie, in Louisville, KY, via Indiana HRS
Mo, in Louisville, KY, via Indiana HRS
Rosey, in Urbana, IL, via Champaign County Humane Society
Angel, in Madison, WI, via Wisconsin HRS
Floyd, in Plymouth, MI, via Midwest Rabbit Rescue and Rehome
Petfinder.com is so great because you can see pictures and read descriptions of animals' personalities, allowing you to find the perfect match for your family. Hoppy 15th birthday Petfinder and congrats to our contest winner!
The Easter Bunny Isn't Real
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While Peanut (left) and Jimmy may look like toys, these 3 lb. dwarf Hotots are real-life bunny brothers, adopted for life by Caroline and Matt in Boston, MA.
I know all of us bunnyparents look forward to the Easter holiday season and the sudden availability of all imaginable rabbit-shaped objects that comes along with it. But while we’re enjoying the bunny cards and figurines, we need to realize that Easter is also a terrible time for many rabbits. Year after year, unsuspecting parents buy real baby bunnies to put in their children’s Easter baskets alongside jelly beans and chocolate eggs. Weeks later, these rabbits are dumped at shelters or (even worse) released into the wild, when the family slowly realizes that rabbits are not perfectly behaved inanimate objects.
As you and I know, rabbits are not toys, and they’re certainly not appropriate gifts for young children. Help spread the word to people in your area by writing in to your local newspaper, putting up posters at obliging shops/malls/grocery stores/veterinary clinics, or simply talking to friends and family about the commitment involved in owning a rabbit. Shelter and rescue volunteers have already begun spreading the word all over the country and I urge you to reach out and educate your local town or city about choosing toy rabbits for Easter, and adopting real rabbits for life.While Peanut (left) and Jimmy may look like toys, these 3 lb. dwarf Hotots are real-life bunny brothers, adopted for life by Caroline and Matt in Boston, MA.
To read more about a national Easter awareness initiative, check out the House Rabbit Society’s Make Mine Chocolate campaign.
7 Temmuz 2012 Cumartesi
College Students @ the Library
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A recent ethnographic study assessed how college students use the library for research projects and study needs. The results are worth your time to read if you expect students to do library research: basically, students rarely ask librarians for help.
USA Today summarized the study in August (College students rarely use librarians' expertise), and here's my summary of their summary.
The ERIAL (Ethnographic Research in Illinois Academic Libraries) project was a 2-year, 5-campus ethnographic study on how students use their campus library.
The researchers found that students "tended to overuse Google and misuse scholarly databases" -- they didn't understand sources (neither Google nor library databases), nor did they know how to find good articles.
Worse — in my view — when students went to use a library database, 50% of them used databases that a librarian "would most likely never recommend for their topic." (I've experienced this myself). Students "showed an almost complete lack of interest" in getting help from a librarian — despite all of the above.
Instead, students consult with faculty who:
My prior reading of the library literature suggests that the best way to overcome students' disinclination to use the library is for faculty to require them to use the library as part of their research. Students are more willing to follow faculty suggestions than anything else regarding library use, so if you require them to consult with a librarian, they are more likely to do so. This is particularly true, other research suggests, for students of color.
If you want your students to improve their research and use better articles in your classes, please encourage them to visit one of the libraries on campus. Better yet, ask your subject librarian to come to class and work with your students as a group to improve their library research. I consistently hear from my faculty colleagues that my sessions improve the quality of articles students find, so having a librarian speak formally to classes is A Good Thing.
For More Information
A recent ethnographic study assessed how college students use the library for research projects and study needs. The results are worth your time to read if you expect students to do library research: basically, students rarely ask librarians for help.USA Today summarized the study in August (College students rarely use librarians' expertise), and here's my summary of their summary.
The ERIAL (Ethnographic Research in Illinois Academic Libraries) project was a 2-year, 5-campus ethnographic study on how students use their campus library.
The researchers found that students "tended to overuse Google and misuse scholarly databases" -- they didn't understand sources (neither Google nor library databases), nor did they know how to find good articles.
Worse — in my view — when students went to use a library database, 50% of them used databases that a librarian "would most likely never recommend for their topic." (I've experienced this myself). Students "showed an almost complete lack of interest" in getting help from a librarian — despite all of the above.
Instead, students consult with faculty who:
- Tended to overestimate students' research skills
- Didn't require a visit to the library to start their research
- Had low expectations of librarians
- Had a sometimes limited ability to teach students effective search strategies and resources
My prior reading of the library literature suggests that the best way to overcome students' disinclination to use the library is for faculty to require them to use the library as part of their research. Students are more willing to follow faculty suggestions than anything else regarding library use, so if you require them to consult with a librarian, they are more likely to do so. This is particularly true, other research suggests, for students of color.
If you want your students to improve their research and use better articles in your classes, please encourage them to visit one of the libraries on campus. Better yet, ask your subject librarian to come to class and work with your students as a group to improve their library research. I consistently hear from my faculty colleagues that my sessions improve the quality of articles students find, so having a librarian speak formally to classes is A Good Thing.
For More Information
- Kolowich, Steve. “Study: College Students Rarely Use Librarians’ Expertise."USA Today Online Aug. 22, 2011.
- Duke, Lynda. College Libraries and Student Culture What We Now Know. Chicago: American Library Association, 2011. Information @ ALA.org or borrow through WorldCat.
Stephanie's Favorite Songs, 2011
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As always, it was a good year for music! I've completed my favorite song list of 2011 and posted it on Spotify.
The full list, in song order, is below, with a few annotations here & there.
Foster The People – Pumped Up Kicks A great song to kick off the collection, it also kicks off a short gun-themed set. Note that the collection ends with a gun-themed song too.
Imelda May – Johnny Got A Boom Boom
Danger Mouse – Two Against One (feat. Jack White) Danger Mouse's Rome CD was amazing - I chose 2 songs for this collection, but there are many more great songs too.
Chris Difford – Like I Did Good for all the rock-loving parents out there, and quite a lovely tune too.
Diego Garcia – Under This Spell I'm guessing Amy's Leo will like this one.
Gomez – Options
Imelda May – I'm Alive Sounds quite a bit like Nick Lowe; and each of the 3 Imelda May songs here sound different from each other.
Nick Lowe – Shame on the Rain Yeah, I should have included his song "I Read A Lot" but this fit better.
The Steep Canyon Rangers – Atheists Don't Have No Songs Steve Martin is amusing here. This song kicks off a short (and hopefully not-too-offensive) religion set.
The Dirt Daubers – Wake Up, Sinners
Eliza Gilkyson – 2153
Eleanor Friedberger – Heaven
Emmylou Harris – Big Black Dog A great sing-along song, whether you have a dog or not. It's fun for cat lovers too.
Iron & Wine – Tree By The River How can you not love a song with this lyric: "I mean the world to a potty-mouth girl, with a pretty pair of blue-eyed birds." ?!
Danger Mouse – Black (feat. Norah Jones)
Sarah Jarosz – Annabelle Lee
Robbers On High Street – Second Chance Thanks to Amy for alerting me to Robbers on High Street; this isn't the song she first recommended, but it's quite a fun song anyway.
Garland Jeffreys – Rock On The first of two covers; I want to pair this one with Spiders & Snakes.
Imelda May – Tainted Love The start of this song makes me think of the Waitresses, which surely was intentional.
Noah And The Whale – Just Me Before We Met My favorite line: "don't be shy; be brave little champion."
Peter Bjorn And John – Tomorrow Has To Wait
Angus and Julia Stone – Big Jet Plane Lolhusband doesn't like that there is only one lyric here, but I love how it sounds.
Thomas Dolby – Road To Reno It's been a long time since he's had a new album, and this was worth waiting for.
If CDs were more than 80 minutes, we'd have more songs here ... but these are the cream of the 2011 crop.
The full list, in song order, is below, with a few annotations here & there.
Foster The People – Pumped Up Kicks A great song to kick off the collection, it also kicks off a short gun-themed set. Note that the collection ends with a gun-themed song too.
Imelda May – Johnny Got A Boom Boom
Danger Mouse – Two Against One (feat. Jack White) Danger Mouse's Rome CD was amazing - I chose 2 songs for this collection, but there are many more great songs too.
Chris Difford – Like I Did Good for all the rock-loving parents out there, and quite a lovely tune too.
Diego Garcia – Under This Spell I'm guessing Amy's Leo will like this one.
Gomez – Options
Imelda May – I'm Alive Sounds quite a bit like Nick Lowe; and each of the 3 Imelda May songs here sound different from each other.
Nick Lowe – Shame on the Rain Yeah, I should have included his song "I Read A Lot" but this fit better.
The Steep Canyon Rangers – Atheists Don't Have No Songs Steve Martin is amusing here. This song kicks off a short (and hopefully not-too-offensive) religion set.
The Dirt Daubers – Wake Up, Sinners
Eliza Gilkyson – 2153
Eleanor Friedberger – Heaven
Emmylou Harris – Big Black Dog A great sing-along song, whether you have a dog or not. It's fun for cat lovers too.
Iron & Wine – Tree By The River How can you not love a song with this lyric: "I mean the world to a potty-mouth girl, with a pretty pair of blue-eyed birds." ?!
Danger Mouse – Black (feat. Norah Jones)
Sarah Jarosz – Annabelle Lee
Robbers On High Street – Second Chance Thanks to Amy for alerting me to Robbers on High Street; this isn't the song she first recommended, but it's quite a fun song anyway.
Garland Jeffreys – Rock On The first of two covers; I want to pair this one with Spiders & Snakes.
Imelda May – Tainted Love The start of this song makes me think of the Waitresses, which surely was intentional.
Noah And The Whale – Just Me Before We Met My favorite line: "don't be shy; be brave little champion."
Peter Bjorn And John – Tomorrow Has To Wait
Angus and Julia Stone – Big Jet Plane Lolhusband doesn't like that there is only one lyric here, but I love how it sounds.
Thomas Dolby – Road To Reno It's been a long time since he's had a new album, and this was worth waiting for.
If CDs were more than 80 minutes, we'd have more songs here ... but these are the cream of the 2011 crop.
Non-Librarian Conferences, #Scio12, and #AEJMC
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It's time for my favorite #funconference, ScienceOnline2012, which starts on Thursday in RTP. #scio12 is a conference for science communicators, including scientists, students, educators, physicians, journalists, librarians, bloggers, programmers and others, who are interested in the way the World Wide Web is changing the way science is communicated, taught and done.
Fellow librarian and conference-goer John Dupuis asked last week in his post Science Online 2012: Library and librarian sessions) about other non-librarian conferences we librarians attend. As the librarian for the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina, I like to go to the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication annual conference. This is where the and reporting, advertising, public relations faculty go to talk about the craft of teaching and share their research. I've been twice in the past 3 years, and sadly, have been the only journalism / strategic communication librarian in attendance. I hope to work with colleagues to change that in the future.
Here's why I like going:
I had theluxury at this conference to attend sessionsthat interest me intellectually. I heardpresentations on public relations efforts at the first NAACP conference in the South in 1920; possibly deceptive practices used in foodmarketing campaigns; and Advertising educators’ definitions of“diversity.” As a librarian, I rarely get to immerse myselfin the literature of journalism and mass communication, so this was a wonderfulopportunity. The conference wastherefore a win for reasons of pure self-interest.
I was able to see mystudents and faculty at work. All of the papers cited above were presentedby UNC Journalism and Mass Communication graduate students and all wereterrific. I also saw a colleague leadthe Breakfast of Editing Champions – and found that copy editors are a lot offun at 8 am!
I was able to offer some reference services at the conference as well. The public relations discussant suggested the presenters turn to polling data to help assess the results of the PR campaigns they are studying. After the session, I gave my student the name of the UNC poll data librarianwho will be able to locate and interpret relevant poll data. Later, over coffee, a friend and I discussedauthor copyright, accessibility, reputation, and other issues related tojournal editing and publishing. I offered reference to the broader communityas well, by tweeting links to articles & resources mentioned in sessions toall following the #aejmc11 hashtag.
At ScienceOnline, I get to geek out on science, which now is more of a hobby for me than a profession, and I also get to hear about science journalism, social media -- and I hang out with fun scientists, librarians, reporters, and so much more. "More" happily includes some of my peeps from UNC Chapel Hill, so I'm sure some reference and referral will happen in Raleigh too.
If you're a librarian reading this, do you go to subject-oriented conferences (as contrasted with library-focused events)? If you're a scholar, scientist, journalist reading this, do you see librarians at conferences? Do you see librarians at your primary place of work? I hope our presence at conferences helps persuade you that we can be helpful!
Fellow librarian and conference-goer John Dupuis asked last week in his post Science Online 2012: Library and librarian sessions) about other non-librarian conferences we librarians attend. As the librarian for the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina, I like to go to the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication annual conference. This is where the and reporting, advertising, public relations faculty go to talk about the craft of teaching and share their research. I've been twice in the past 3 years, and sadly, have been the only journalism / strategic communication librarian in attendance. I hope to work with colleagues to change that in the future.
Here's why I like going:
I had theluxury at this conference to attend sessionsthat interest me intellectually. I heardpresentations on public relations efforts at the first NAACP conference in the South in 1920; possibly deceptive practices used in foodmarketing campaigns; and Advertising educators’ definitions of“diversity.” As a librarian, I rarely get to immerse myselfin the literature of journalism and mass communication, so this was a wonderfulopportunity. The conference wastherefore a win for reasons of pure self-interest.
I was able to see mystudents and faculty at work. All of the papers cited above were presentedby UNC Journalism and Mass Communication graduate students and all wereterrific. I also saw a colleague leadthe Breakfast of Editing Champions – and found that copy editors are a lot offun at 8 am!
I was able to offer some reference services at the conference as well. The public relations discussant suggested the presenters turn to polling data to help assess the results of the PR campaigns they are studying. After the session, I gave my student the name of the UNC poll data librarianwho will be able to locate and interpret relevant poll data. Later, over coffee, a friend and I discussedauthor copyright, accessibility, reputation, and other issues related tojournal editing and publishing. I offered reference to the broader communityas well, by tweeting links to articles & resources mentioned in sessions toall following the #aejmc11 hashtag.
At ScienceOnline, I get to geek out on science, which now is more of a hobby for me than a profession, and I also get to hear about science journalism, social media -- and I hang out with fun scientists, librarians, reporters, and so much more. "More" happily includes some of my peeps from UNC Chapel Hill, so I'm sure some reference and referral will happen in Raleigh too.
If you're a librarian reading this, do you go to subject-oriented conferences (as contrasted with library-focused events)? If you're a scholar, scientist, journalist reading this, do you see librarians at conferences? Do you see librarians at your primary place of work? I hope our presence at conferences helps persuade you that we can be helpful!
A Librarian's View of ScienceOnline
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I've submitted a photograph to #scio12 science-art show. I wanted to convey something about science, which is tough since what I most like to photograph is flowers and cats. Ok, I could have argued that they were science photos, but I thought it was a stretch.
I thought more about it and decided to take photos of some of the books I've acquired (for myself or for my library) as a result of ScienceOnline past & current. Here, therefore, is my view of ScienceOnline:
The books are, from top to bottom:
You can check out (literally and figuratively) these books on my WorldCat list of ScienceOnline Books.
I thought more about it and decided to take photos of some of the books I've acquired (for myself or for my library) as a result of ScienceOnline past & current. Here, therefore, is my view of ScienceOnline:
The books are, from top to bottom:
- Graedon, J., & Graedon, T. (2011). The people's pharmacy quick & handy home remedies. Washington, DC: National Geographic.
- Zimmer, C. (2011). A planet of viruses. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Skloot, R. (2010). The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Crown Publishers.
- Dunn, R. R. (2011). The wild life of our bodies: Predators, parasites, and partners that shape who we are today. New York: Harper.
- McKenna, M. (2010). Superbug: The fatal menace of MRSA. New York: Free Press.
- Linden, T. (2011). The New York times reader: Health and medicine. Washington, D.C: CQ Press.
- Tucker, H. (2011). Blood work: A tale of medicine and murder in the scientific revolution. New York: W.W. Norton.
- Mooney, C., & Kirshenbaum, S. (2009). Unscientific America: How scientific illiteracy threatens our future. New York: Basic Books.
- Specter, M. (2009). Denialism: How irrational thinking hinders scientific progress, harms the planet, and threatens our lives. New York: Penguin Press.
- Meredith, D. (2010). Explaining research: How to reach key audiences to advance your work. New York, N.Y: Oxford University Press.
You can check out (literally and figuratively) these books on my WorldCat list of ScienceOnline Books.
Field trip to Durham's @LifeandScience museum! #scio12
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I was thrilled to go on a behind the scenes tour of Durham's fabulous Museum of Life and Science at last week's ScienceOnline conference. Here is an annotated visual tour of the trip, with photos taken by several of us on the tour. I used Storify to curate the images, which were posted on Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube (the bear video is awesome; especially the last 10-20 seconds).
Thanks especially to Keeper Mikey for the tour!
Thanks especially to Keeper Mikey for the tour!
5 Temmuz 2012 Perşembe
Field trip to Durham's @LifeandScience museum! #scio12
To contact us Click HERE
I was thrilled to go on a behind the scenes tour of Durham's fabulous Museum of Life and Science at last week's ScienceOnline conference. Here is an annotated visual tour of the trip, with photos taken by several of us on the tour. I used Storify to curate the images, which were posted on Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube (the bear video is awesome; especially the last 10-20 seconds).
Thanks especially to Keeper Mikey for the tour!
Thanks especially to Keeper Mikey for the tour!
How Librarians Can Help in Real Life, at #scio13, and more
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How do librarians help scientists? If you haven't worked with a good librarian, it's hard to know what we can offer and how we can be useful. I'd love to see a session at a scholarly conference (ScienceOnline, AEJMC, I'm looking at you!) where librarians model how we work our magic with patrons.
I envision a real-time demonstration of the "reference interaction"* between a librarian and a grad student or other patron type. *The term "reference interaction" is used to indicate the session where one of us meets with a researcher ("you") and asks questions about what kind of information you need. We then suggest resources tailored to your need and make sure you know how to use them.
In my current position, as librarian for journalism & mass communication, recent questions have included:
Maybe you'd go to your favorite database -- many students would go to JStor to get scholarly articles because they'd learned about that terrific search engine in a class. BUT that would be unproductive, because JStor doesn't contain current articles in it (why? "moving wall") ... so if you wanted articles about the success of advertising for online newspapers, you'd get frustrated and go back to Mr. Google. Or maybe you'd go to LexisNexis, because you've used it before. But you wouldn't find scholarly articles there ... so back you'd go to Mr. Google.
Another reason to talk to a librarian is that we work with folks from many disciplines and can often refer you to someone doing related work. For instance, Student A recently asked me how she'd find a list, (ideally with contact information) of African American newspapers. I pointed her to an excellent resource (the Gale Directory of Publications & Broadcast Media) AND mentioned that one of her colleagues, Student B, had used the resource to identify Latino media outlets. I suggested that Student A contact Student B for tips on how best to use the resource for this project.These reference sessions generally take 10-30 minutes, depending on how detailed the question is and how knowledgeable the patron is about the resources available. Good librarians will make sure that you know the best resources to use AND that you know a few tips on how to make the resource(s) do what you want.It's one thing to write about this in a blog post, or for librarians to study and discuss this amongst themselves. There's got to be a way to show you what we do and how we can help ... so I propose a librarian demo at conferences to demystify our services and share resources with a broader audience.
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| Librarians are so helpful! (Creative Commons image courtesy of Christchurch City Libraries on Flickr) |
I envision a real-time demonstration of the "reference interaction"* between a librarian and a grad student or other patron type. *The term "reference interaction" is used to indicate the session where one of us meets with a researcher ("you") and asks questions about what kind of information you need. We then suggest resources tailored to your need and make sure you know how to use them.
In my current position, as librarian for journalism & mass communication, recent questions have included:
- How to download the entire issue of magazine from HathiTrust
- Information about online advertising rates for newspapers. Patron needs both the rates themselves as well as scholarly articles about online advertising for newspapers.
- Looking for NBC News archives for possible use on Carolina Week.
- Need scholarly articles on the history of social media for an independent study.
- Fact-checking resources for a class of advanced editing students (list of resources)
Maybe you'd go to your favorite database -- many students would go to JStor to get scholarly articles because they'd learned about that terrific search engine in a class. BUT that would be unproductive, because JStor doesn't contain current articles in it (why? "moving wall") ... so if you wanted articles about the success of advertising for online newspapers, you'd get frustrated and go back to Mr. Google. Or maybe you'd go to LexisNexis, because you've used it before. But you wouldn't find scholarly articles there ... so back you'd go to Mr. Google.
Another reason to talk to a librarian is that we work with folks from many disciplines and can often refer you to someone doing related work. For instance, Student A recently asked me how she'd find a list, (ideally with contact information) of African American newspapers. I pointed her to an excellent resource (the Gale Directory of Publications & Broadcast Media) AND mentioned that one of her colleagues, Student B, had used the resource to identify Latino media outlets. I suggested that Student A contact Student B for tips on how best to use the resource for this project.These reference sessions generally take 10-30 minutes, depending on how detailed the question is and how knowledgeable the patron is about the resources available. Good librarians will make sure that you know the best resources to use AND that you know a few tips on how to make the resource(s) do what you want.It's one thing to write about this in a blog post, or for librarians to study and discuss this amongst themselves. There's got to be a way to show you what we do and how we can help ... so I propose a librarian demo at conferences to demystify our services and share resources with a broader audience.
My Library Life, Last Week
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Once again, I participated in #libday8, a semi-annual event coordinated by Bobbi Newman of Librarian by Day. Twice a year librarians, library staff & library students share a day (or week) in their life through Twitter & other social media tools.
I like to do this for a few reasons. First, I find it fun to chunk my work into 140-character segments -- and amusing to see how much time I spend on the same projects. By the end of the week, I was tweeting less because the tweets would have read "still working on that LAUNC-CH project" or "still slogging through the 10,000 volume reclassification project." In fact, I did tweet "still preparing for class" -- but at least in that case, I was preparing for different classes.
My ulterior motive is to show folks, my students and colleagues mostly, what all we librarians do. Everyone associates librarians and libraries with books, when in fact, most of us do so much more than just deal with books. The fact that we do more is illustrated, 140 characters at a time, over several days, twice a year, and I think that's good public relations for all librarians & libraries.
I also enjoy the camaraderie of tweeting along with other librarians about their day -- it helps lessen the isolation of dealing with yet another missing book, or corralling another "cheeky journal" (tm @wigglesweets). Plus it's fun to see what other kinds of librarians do, like public librarians and children's librarians.
Thanks to Bobbi & everyone who participated. I had fun!
You can see what I was up to last week by reading these tweets:
I like to do this for a few reasons. First, I find it fun to chunk my work into 140-character segments -- and amusing to see how much time I spend on the same projects. By the end of the week, I was tweeting less because the tweets would have read "still working on that LAUNC-CH project" or "still slogging through the 10,000 volume reclassification project." In fact, I did tweet "still preparing for class" -- but at least in that case, I was preparing for different classes.
My ulterior motive is to show folks, my students and colleagues mostly, what all we librarians do. Everyone associates librarians and libraries with books, when in fact, most of us do so much more than just deal with books. The fact that we do more is illustrated, 140 characters at a time, over several days, twice a year, and I think that's good public relations for all librarians & libraries.
I also enjoy the camaraderie of tweeting along with other librarians about their day -- it helps lessen the isolation of dealing with yet another missing book, or corralling another "cheeky journal" (tm @wigglesweets). Plus it's fun to see what other kinds of librarians do, like public librarians and children's librarians.
Thanks to Bobbi & everyone who participated. I had fun!
You can see what I was up to last week by reading these tweets:
Engaging Audiences via Social Media (shoutout to #scio12)
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I'm facilitating a class tonight on how to increase visibility and evaluating response to a blog. The class is a group of students in the Interdisciplinary Health Communication program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They run the blog Upstream (go take a look!), which has "the goal of encouraging dialogue and debate on health communication."
I'm going to discuss two elements important to all bloggers / Twitterers, both in the library and in the science community (and other communities too, of course):
To improve visibility folks need to be talking about or sharing your content. Emily Finke and Kevin Zelnio's #scio12 session Understanding audiences and how to know when you are *really* reaching out helped me generate the following questions for the class:
I've collected a lot of links to help evaluate the response to your social media presence, which are on my library guide Assessing Social Media Campaigns. Many of these links were identified by the ScienceOnline session The Attention Economy and Influence Metrics by Adrian J. Ebsary and Lou Woodley. Handy links include
See Also
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| teamwork 1, from stock.xchng |
I'm going to discuss two elements important to all bloggers / Twitterers, both in the library and in the science community (and other communities too, of course):
- How to improve visibility of your blog (Twitter / other social media)
- How to evaluate the response to your blog
To improve visibility folks need to be talking about or sharing your content. Emily Finke and Kevin Zelnio's #scio12 session Understanding audiences and how to know when you are *really* reaching out helped me generate the following questions for the class:
- What would improving visibility look like?
- More hits on your blog?
- More shared blog posts?
- More comments on the blog?
- The audience raised some excellent points about using blog comments to make assessments about your blog itself. These include:
- Sharing (retweeting or emailing to others) vs. commenting on a blog post
- Many barriers to commenting on blogs, such as:
- Comments are longer-lasting, possibly contentious
- Comments requiring login serves as an additional barrier
- Commenting is tough on a mobile phone
- Tweets are more ephemeral, and sharing with people you've chosen
- Based on these questions, are comments a good way of assessing visibility?
- One audience member suggested that a good way of increasing reach would be to translate your blog into another language. This would be important if you wanted a to reach a group for whom English is not the first language.
I've collected a lot of links to help evaluate the response to your social media presence, which are on my library guide Assessing Social Media Campaigns. Many of these links were identified by the ScienceOnline session The Attention Economy and Influence Metrics by Adrian J. Ebsary and Lou Woodley. Handy links include
- Website Grader, analyzes websites for SEO, readability, links, and more.
- TwitSprout, which track social media activity for your Twitter account.
- TweetPsych creates a psychological profile of any public Twitter account and compares it to the thousands already in the database on categories such as learning, work, media
- SnapBird doesn't assess your media reach, but it does store the last 3,000 tweets from any Twitter account. Handy for assessing comments about a brand or campaign from a known account.
See Also
- Zelnio, Kevin. On Naïveté Among Scientists Who Wish to Communicate | EvoEcoLab, Scientific American Blog Network. Oct. 4, 2011.
- Wilcox, Christie. Social Media for Scientists Part 1: It’s Our Job | Science Sushi, Scientific American Blog Network. Sept. 27, 2011
- Finke, Emily and Kevin Zelnio. Understanding audiences and how to know when you are *really* reaching out (video). Presentation at Science Online 2012. Jan. 20, 2012.
Find Good Research, Free
To contact us Click HERE
I recently spoke to Daniel Kreiss' JOMC 244 class: Talk Politics: An Introduction to Political Communication, and I created this library resource guide for further research. I wrote this post for the class tumblr (talkingpolitics.tumblr.com) and am reposting it here.
My presentation had two goals:
Search tips: Generating Good Search Terms (any resource)
NC Live offers hundreds of free, full-text resources to North Carolina residents with a library card. Check out this list of search engines to help you find free journals and newspaper articles!
Note: while these resources are "free-to-you," they cost the State Library millions of dollars. Please use them!
You may wonder about Google Scholar, which is Google's way of finding scholarly articles. I have mixed feelings about Google Scholar, which I have documented in a blog post. As long as you know what it does and doesn't have, it's fine to use. But if you need the full-text of an article that's not in Google Scholar, please ask a librarian!
Which brings me to my last point: Ask a Librarian! Many news organizations have an on-site library, including CNN, the New York Times, and NPR -- if you are lucky enough to work at one of them, please make use of your library resources! Luckily, all you need is a public library card to contact a librarian at your public library for research help. They are happy to help all residents, including journalists. Public universities are also equipped to help members of the public, including journalists.
If you spend a little time up front learning what library resources are available in your community, it will save you lots of time later AND will help you find more relevant material to write about.
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| image source: FindIcons |
I recently spoke to Daniel Kreiss' JOMC 244 class: Talk Politics: An Introduction to Political Communication, and I created this library resource guide for further research. I wrote this post for the class tumblr (talkingpolitics.tumblr.com) and am reposting it here.
My presentation had two goals:
- Show researchers how to improve search terms to generate more relevant
- Show researchers how to access free resources for finding scholarly & newspaper articles.
Search tips: Generating Good Search Terms (any resource)
- Start with your concept -- such as negative advertising
- Too many results? Put "quotes" around the phrase to require it be searched as a phrase: "negative advertising"
- Add another term or two to your search, to make the results more precise: "negative advertising" AND campaign AND politics
- If you're searching a library database / search engine, limit the content type to scholarly articles or newspaper articles
- To expand your results, but keep them relevant, try the wildcard operator, *: "negative advertis*" AND campaign* AND politic*, which will search for
- negative advertising; negative advertisements; negative advertisement
- campaign; campaigning; campaigns
- politics; political; politician; politicians
- To expand results further, while still keeping them relevant, use synonyms for one search term:
- "negative advertis*" AND (campaign* OR election*) AND politics
NC Live offers hundreds of free, full-text resources to North Carolina residents with a library card. Check out this list of search engines to help you find free journals and newspaper articles! - Academic Search Complete is incredibly useful for scholarly articles, though it also includes newspaper and trade publications. The full-text of many of these articles identified will be available for free; if not, ask your library to get the articles for you (free! via "Interlibrary Loan" magic).
- Newspaper Source Plus has full-text from hundreds of U.S. newspapers, including over 50 from N.C. as well as the New York Times and the Washington Post.
Note: while these resources are "free-to-you," they cost the State Library millions of dollars. Please use them!
You may wonder about Google Scholar, which is Google's way of finding scholarly articles. I have mixed feelings about Google Scholar, which I have documented in a blog post. As long as you know what it does and doesn't have, it's fine to use. But if you need the full-text of an article that's not in Google Scholar, please ask a librarian!
 |
| image from IconArchive |
If you spend a little time up front learning what library resources are available in your community, it will save you lots of time later AND will help you find more relevant material to write about.
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