I need to do something positive, physical, creative. Stack wood, perhaps?

Off to the store. I don't know what the day will bring. It is summer, and I love it!

Productive weekend. Four new blog posts, including Transliteracy: Our Freedom Depends on It. http://ping.fm/Ots44

Transliteracy: Our Freedom Depends on It

Happy Fourth of July from my farm here in Wood County,WV. My Internet connection has been very spotty today, so I have not had the best connection with my PLN. However, a few tweets have been coming through and from them I can see that many of us are deeply affected by what this day means, even if it means different things to different people.  Many of us see this as a day to honor our troops. Some see it as a day of family get-togethers and picnics. I prefer to think of this as the day our liberties were born.

In this post I would like to discuss the basis of our freedom and the responsibilities we must assume to maintain our freedom.  The Constitution assures us of certain rights but does not tell us how to insure these.

To maintain our freedom, I believe we all must be critical consumers of information. Transliteracy is required of all of us to make sense of the wealth of information and misinformation available to us. We all must be critical viewers, readers listeners - cynics,even - to sort through the trash and arrive at the truth.

We must become more adept at finding and analyzing primary sources of information.  By the time most of us receive our news, it has been analyzed and edited and repackaged several times. Sometimes it is really hard to get at the truth.  So where do we begin?

I suggest libraries of all types - but most especially public libraries - as starting places to delve into the origins of the news. But before we leave home or log on, we must first adopt a critical stance about any and all information we are to receive.

Libraries of all sorts must take the lead in helping citizens bridge the multiple literacies and interpret their findings.  Many libraries and librarians already have adopted this charge.  For me, as an elementary librarian, this means I must help and encourage children to question all forms of media. I will be but one of many foot soldiers in the necessary war for our continued freedom.

Actually Composing from a Laptop

The past several posts have been written on my BlackBerry Curve 8330.  I have been relying on that medium in part because I wanted to see how effective I could be using my phone as a handheld computer.  My analysis:  I did pretty well.

I definitely like the idea of anywhere technology.  I think cell phones will be providing a larger percentage of the information stream in coming years.  How nice to be able to write when the idea strikes, even if one is away from more traditional media.  Serendipity could lead to the best ideas one has; of course, a lot of drivel and lack of polish could also be the result.

I wonder if we will become more adept at extemporaneous writing as cell phone as a word processor use expands.  Many have decried the use of text and instant messaging and email as avenues of inferior writing.  To be sure, once an email is sent it is difficult and often impossible to recall and edit.  Certainly our reputations as learned individuals will be tarnished if too many hastily written posts are not proofread before being sent into the ether. 

I disagree with the critics’ debasement of IM language, however.  Do any of you remember that course that was once taught in all high schools?  It was called shorthand.  I see no difference philosophically in the use of IM-speak and shorthand, excect that the use of IM-speak has evolved organically with the technology at the hands of young people.  Both IM-speak and shorthand serve the same purpose, if the audiences are different.

I love my BlackBerry and will be using it for the immediate future.  Soon, however, I will look to the Android market to see what it can offer me in terms of on-demand computing.  I can’t wait to find out!

Checking Out Digital Readers

Before anyone freaks out on me, I want to be clear that I don't think the printed word in its traditional formats - book, magazine, newspaper - is going away.  However, there is a lot to be said for digital readers.  Part of my time this summer is being spent exploring various options.

My county technology director, Nancy Napolillo, loaned my her Kindle for a few weeks this spring.  Without any directions I was able to navigate the device, but I did not find it terribly intuitive.  The resolution, however, was wonderful, even in bright sunlight, and the battery seemed quite resilient.  Unfortunately, the device is black and white only, which means it likely would have little appeal to kids.

A few days after borrowing Nancy's Kindle I had the brief opportunity to preview an iPad owned by our school psychologist, Stephanie Oberly. Although I did not get to play long, I was impressed!  I definitely see an iPad in my future!

In the meantime, Kindle has been making some moves to combat obsolescence.  I had heard that it had released apps for mobile devices, allowing customers to freely download the apps without the costly purchase of the Kindle device.  Once the app was installed, customers could purchase Kindle editions at a much discounted price and read these editions on their phones.  Unfortunately, my particular smartphone is not supported.

I was able to download a Kindle app. For my PC, however.  Again, in terms of graphics this is bare bones. For scholarly research, however, it is quite ample.  I particularly like the ability to highlight text and to highlight text with a note.  I downloaded some MacArthur Foundation papers from Amazon to test drive this device, and while I find it utilitarian, I can't see me relaxing with a good book on my laptop!

I see many advantages to using an ebook format.  The major advantage is that space would be conserved. Also, annotation with digital formats is quite versatile.  If one chooses to store his library on his cell phone, he could conceivably carry his entire personal library with him.  The costs for Kindle versions of ebooks are, in many cases, less than the cost of publisher's hardcovers, thereby saving the user money.

There are disadvantages as well.  For me perhaps the biggest setback would be the inablility to share books with my friends. Also, unless one is faithful and persistent about backing up his device, one's whole library could be lost and unretrievable if something happened to the device.  Also, I am guessing that using one's phone as an ereader could be draining on its battery, which is something to consider if one is unable to charge his phone regularly.

Mostly, though, I think ebooks have great promise. For the school library, I would like to see more digital books incorporated into our collection. In order for this to be used widely, our vendor, Follett, must come up with an application to allow students (or whoever) to download books and othe materials to their cell phones. This will make student utilization of this platform a reality.

Curves

This past week I had to replace my Blackberry - again.  It was my second replacement since March.  The first Curve had lasted almost a year, even though I drove over it (twice) in November and cracked the screen.  It was quite usable until the charging port went bad.

As much as I loved my original Curve, I liked the replacement I got in March even better. The OS seemed faster and the reception was excellent.  Unfortunately, the charging port in it only lasted three months before having issues. Hence, I got online at the phone insurance site, http://thesignal.com, and $40 later, this replacement Curve was on the way.

The setup process and data conversion from Curve2 did not go smoothly.  I spent about an hour online with two U.S. Cellular customer service reps before I got my issues resolved. During the lag time in our call, I had a nice conversation about the Android phones the company will be adding to it's lineup later this summer.  I think that when it comes time to renew my contract in late September I will switch my home phone number to the Curve and buy a new Android phone for me.  The HTC Desire sounds promising.