As every college student knows, textbooks are expensive! The game is rigged: publishers are constantly releasing new editions of textbooks with only slight changes to the material, but if you don't buy the overpriced textbook, you're going to have a hard time passing the class.
Wouldn't it be great if textbooks were free and high-quality? That's the premise behind the open textbook movement. The Open Textbook Network, a large collection of colleges and universities including Ohio State and Penn State, is at the forefront in promoting the creation and use of open textbooks. You can browse available textbooks in their Open Textbook Library. Can't find a textbook that matches up with your class? If you're a student, ask your professor to consider writing an open textbook for the class. If you're a professor, consider writing an open textbook for your subject area. Lots of students will thank you.
Showing posts with label open access. Show all posts
Showing posts with label open access. Show all posts
10/24/2013
Do you understand open access?
This week is open access week, and we encourage faculty and students to learn more about what open access means to scholarly activity and publishing.
Here's a great animated video that will introduce you to the concept. It was created by Jorge Cham, creator of PhD Comics, Nick Shockey of the Right to Research Coalition, and Jonathan Eisen, at the University of California Davis.
We hope you'll watch it and share your questions and comments with librarians here at Langsdale.
Here's a great animated video that will introduce you to the concept. It was created by Jorge Cham, creator of PhD Comics, Nick Shockey of the Right to Research Coalition, and Jonathan Eisen, at the University of California Davis.
We hope you'll watch it and share your questions and comments with librarians here at Langsdale.
2/21/2013
Dipity Timelines for Class Projects
Hi! I'm Pete Ramsey, one of the Reference and Instruction librarians at Langsdale Library, and I also teach the Information Literacy (IDIS 110) course in first-year student learning communities.
Dipity is a timeline building tool that is free online (or you can pay for a premium account). A user can find sources from around the internet and import them into Dipity. Links show up on a timeline with an attractive picture and short title. Once posted, each link can be annotated as desired. Once a timeline has been created a user can share it with others, either publicly or with a select group via email. When sharing, viewers can be given permission to contribute, making this a powerful collaborative tool.
Looking at a few Dipity timelines during student presentations would certainly be easier on the eyes than the usual "Death by PowerPoint." Try it, you'll like it!
For your consideration: Dipity.com
In my non-librarian role as a professor, I'm always looking for new and intriguing online tools for student projects. Dipity.com is one very interesting tool that recently came to my attention.What is Dipity?
 |
| A dipity timeline with Seattle Times news articles on the Boeing 787 |
How might Dipity be used for a class?
I could see students building a Dipity timeline--either as an individual or team project--for any topic that can be arranged chronologically. The import tools are powerful and intuitive, and the final display is easy on the eyes. For kicks (or for an in-class presentation), a user can click the tab just above the timeline to display in "Flipbook" style, with each event on the timeline showing up one-by-one.Looking at a few Dipity timelines during student presentations would certainly be easier on the eyes than the usual "Death by PowerPoint." Try it, you'll like it!
5/09/2012
Open Data Applications
Hi! I'm Pete Ramsey, one of the Reference and Instruction librarians at Langsdale Library, and I also teach the Information Literacy (IDIS 110) course in first-year student learning communities.
In my course, I like to include a segment where students demonstrate an interesting web site or web-based tool that relates to information literacy. I saw some interesting (and occasionally controversial) demos this semester, including these two:
Sometimes called the "Avoid Ghetto" app, this tool recommends walking directions based on weather, crime statistics, and population demographics. The app has received a lot of attention, due in large part to protests from civil liberties organizations, which claim that it highlights social discrimination and drives away potential business from the neighborhoods that need the most attention.
This site, not-so-affectionately called the "Baltimore Death Map," shows a map of Baltimore homicide victims as far back as 2007. Clicking on a pin shows the victim's name, age, gender, race, cause of death, and a link to any Sun articles about the homicide. A bit disturbing, I suppose, but an intriguing way to reveal the darker side of living and dying in Baltimore.
In my course, I like to include a segment where students demonstrate an interesting web site or web-based tool that relates to information literacy. I saw some interesting (and occasionally controversial) demos this semester, including these two:
Microsoft's "Pedestrian Route Production" Mobile App
Sometimes called the "Avoid Ghetto" app, this tool recommends walking directions based on weather, crime statistics, and population demographics. The app has received a lot of attention, due in large part to protests from civil liberties organizations, which claim that it highlights social discrimination and drives away potential business from the neighborhoods that need the most attention.
The Baltimore Sun's Homicide Mapping Website
This site, not-so-affectionately called the "Baltimore Death Map," shows a map of Baltimore homicide victims as far back as 2007. Clicking on a pin shows the victim's name, age, gender, race, cause of death, and a link to any Sun articles about the homicide. A bit disturbing, I suppose, but an intriguing way to reveal the darker side of living and dying in Baltimore.
About the Open Data Movement
Both of the above tools demonstrate intelligent use of information made available by "open data" practices. The idea behind open data is to provide certain statistics and data freely for people to use without worrying about violating someone's intellectual property restrictions. A lot of governments and cities are providing this kind of data, and app and web developers are making really interesting reports and tools.Baltimore's Open Data
Baltimore city has two top-notch open data projects. There's OpenBaltimore with its goal of providing "access to City data in an effort that supports government transparency, openness and innovative uses that will help improve the lives of Baltimore residents, visitors and businesses" (Hint: recently got a parking citation? Look it up here). There's also the VERY nice CityView map, which offers various base maps of the city and numerous data layers (for example, you can see a sobering map of the many vacant buildings).
1/19/2010
Open Access: What is it and why does it matter?
Attention students, faculty, staff, and administrators: Do you know about Open Access and how it relates to all of us in the UB community?
"Open access (OA) is a worldwide movement wherein full-text scholarly articles are completely free and unrestricted to all users to read, copy, download, and distribute over the World Wide Web."
(Western Carolina University's Glossary of Library Lingo)
Specific interest groups, including the scientific research community and academic librarians, have been grappling with OA issues for years. Increasingly, however, conversations about open access are occurring across departments and divisions on college and university campuses. All members of the UB community have a vested interest in being aware of the issues associated with access to scholarly publications, including faculty who publish in peer-reviewed journals to further scholarship in their fields and advance their careers, librarians who acquire and provide access to these publications in print or online, students who use these resources in the pursuit of education, and administrators who make policy and budgetary decisions.
For a quick and entertaining introduction to the OA movement, check out this video: Open Access Manifesto. Peter Suber, an Earlham College philosophy professor turned OA policy strategist, provides a more comprehensive overview.
Want to see some OA journals? The Directory of Open Access Journals will connect you to thousands of scholarly and scientific journals which are available in full-text for free. Browse the DOAJ's listings (currently 4570 journals!) by subject category.
Open access issues are currently making news headlines as a result of the Obama administration's interest in public access to taxpayer-funded research. The President's Office of Science and Technology Policy is currently hosting a Public Access Policy Forum on its blog, and the deadline for comments and responses from the public is extended through January 21st, 2010.
If you'd like to know more about the OA movement, you're in luck -- there's a wealth of information available through the web. Here are a few highlights:
The Open Access Scholarly Information Sourcebook
Are you a student? Administrator? Researcher? OASIS has customized information for each of these categories based on what type of user you are.
Open Access in 2009: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
This blog post by Richard Poynder is exactly what it sounds like -- a year-end review about all things OA.
The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
SPARC is a one-stop shop for news, articles, videos, and links about the effort "to correct imbalances in the scholarly publishing system."
ACRL's Scholarly Communication Toolkit
The Association of College and Research Libraries created this toolkit as "an educational resource primarily directed to librarians," but it provides useful overviews of interrelated issues, including authors' rights, journal economics, open access archiving, and new models of publishing.
"Open access (OA) is a worldwide movement wherein full-text scholarly articles are completely free and unrestricted to all users to read, copy, download, and distribute over the World Wide Web."
(Western Carolina University's Glossary of Library Lingo)
Specific interest groups, including the scientific research community and academic librarians, have been grappling with OA issues for years. Increasingly, however, conversations about open access are occurring across departments and divisions on college and university campuses. All members of the UB community have a vested interest in being aware of the issues associated with access to scholarly publications, including faculty who publish in peer-reviewed journals to further scholarship in their fields and advance their careers, librarians who acquire and provide access to these publications in print or online, students who use these resources in the pursuit of education, and administrators who make policy and budgetary decisions.
For a quick and entertaining introduction to the OA movement, check out this video: Open Access Manifesto. Peter Suber, an Earlham College philosophy professor turned OA policy strategist, provides a more comprehensive overview.
Want to see some OA journals? The Directory of Open Access Journals will connect you to thousands of scholarly and scientific journals which are available in full-text for free. Browse the DOAJ's listings (currently 4570 journals!) by subject category.
Open access issues are currently making news headlines as a result of the Obama administration's interest in public access to taxpayer-funded research. The President's Office of Science and Technology Policy is currently hosting a Public Access Policy Forum on its blog, and the deadline for comments and responses from the public is extended through January 21st, 2010.
If you'd like to know more about the OA movement, you're in luck -- there's a wealth of information available through the web. Here are a few highlights:
The Open Access Scholarly Information Sourcebook
Are you a student? Administrator? Researcher? OASIS has customized information for each of these categories based on what type of user you are.
Open Access in 2009: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
This blog post by Richard Poynder is exactly what it sounds like -- a year-end review about all things OA.
The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
SPARC is a one-stop shop for news, articles, videos, and links about the effort "to correct imbalances in the scholarly publishing system."
ACRL's Scholarly Communication Toolkit
The Association of College and Research Libraries created this toolkit as "an educational resource primarily directed to librarians," but it provides useful overviews of interrelated issues, including authors' rights, journal economics, open access archiving, and new models of publishing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)