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School's song for military an online hit
A song dedicated to soldiers and veterans is turning the third grade at Colonial Heights' Tussing Elementary School into an Internet sensation.
The response from around the world has surprised music teacher Michael Souders, who co-wrote the song "Thank You Soldiers" with his wife, Angela, and posted the video on multiple video-hosting Web sites, including YouTube.
The third-graders gave a school performance after Veterans Day, and Souders wanted to write a song for the students to sing that was not just about the soldiers, but to them.
"I wanted to write one that would be very sweet from [the students'] hearts, from them singing directly to the veterans and soldiers," he said.
The three-minute video has the lyrics to the song displayed over photographs of soldiers past and present. The song opens by celebrating the ability to sleep peacefully at night while soldiers protect America's shores "in the air and oceans, too / Defending freedom at all cost."
While Souders never served in the military, he has a deep appreciation for those who do. "Not having served, I feel indebted more," he said.
Souders said the students received certificates from the Military Chaplains Association of the United States of America and Catholic War Veterans of the U.S.A. for the performance. The class also is receiving notes and e-mails from all over the world, from active-duty soldiers to veterans to their families.
Since being uploaded to YouTube and other Web sites early last month, the video has been viewed more than 15,000 times. The song has been played on various radio stations throughout the Richmond area.
"The real, real desire for that video [was] the more soldiers that get a thank-you, the better," Souders said. "It's almost become a class project, to see how many soldiers we can thank."
One thing is certain, Souders said: "They are going to remember; it's not something they'll soon forget."
How to Synchronize Your Digital Scrapbook
I had originally planned on calling this article ‘How to Use Cloud Computing to Synchronize Your Digital Scrapbook For Research and Integrate Into Your Personal Knowledge Management Wiki for Extra Credit’, but I figured that would be a bit too much. Luckily I am going to give info on how to do both of these things so stay with me!
Background
For my own personal knowledge management setup , I’m very interested in tracking a number of different ‘things’:
* Documents - PDFs, word documents, mindmaps, etc.
* Notes - Journal entries, book summaries, personal notes (think wiki text)
* Links - Bookmarks (personal or social sites like del.icio.us)
* Multimedia - Audio / Video
* Snippets - Captured web pages (full or partiallly snipped content)
When I first mentioned my ‘Digital Scrapbook’, I wasn’t dropping any hints about me having any crafty hobbies , I generally refer to my system for storing Snippets as my Scrapbook. This name is no doubt in large part due to the fact that I’ve been using the popular Firefox plugin ScrapBook to manage my digital snippets for a few years now.
ScrapBook is a fantastic solution for storing local copies of web pages for research (with highlighting, editing, and annotation), saving snips of important sections of sites, recording purchase confirmations or receipts, and saving your travel itineraries. One major thing it has been lacking though is the ability to synchronize or share the Scrapbook with other computers. I use multiple computers (a couple laptops: Mac & Window and a central desktop: Linux) so my goal is to have consistent and up to date data between all systems. And, up until now, I’ve had no way to integrate this save data into my wiki-based knowledge management system .
I started investigating a solution for this a number of months ago and stumbled across a related (and powerful) research tool called Zotero . I haven’t had a chance to use Zotero in depth, but one new feature in the beta version that stuck out to me was the ability to synchronize your data with a remote server. On the surface this feature looks good (and probably is for most people - data sync to Zotero server and webdav support for documents), but I was looking for a solution where I have more control over where the data is hosted. Although I’m usually not concerned with hosting my data with most providers, I often save private financial information in my Scrapbook (credit reports, financial statements, account numbers, etc.) so I’d like to have control over where the data is saved and how it’s encrypted. Further research eventually sparked a few ideas for a solution.
Synchronizing and Sharing ScrapBook Data
I decided to find a way to explore a setup using some file sharing/sync services after reading an article on syncing Scrapbook using Dropbox . I had never used Dropbox before and after giving it a brief testdrive it looked very promising. Hey, you get a 2GB account for free so that’s definitely an added bonus! Although Dropbox has some killer features (a big one being an iPhone app to access your files), I opted to experiment with another sync service. I’ve been using JungleDisk for a couple years as my Amazon-S3 backed offsite backup solution, and was curious if this could be used. After downloading the latest version (3.0.2 for Linux) I discovered that it now supports file/directory synchronization between computers. After about 10-15 minutes of setup and file syncing I had a working solution between my laptop and desktop computers. Here’s what you’ll need to do:
Wiki Integration (Extra Credit)
OK, for me this was the icing on the cake. Since my Scrapbook data is now on the same computer as my wiki I thought it would be nifty to somehow integrate directly into some of my wiki pages. I found out that Scrapbook supports the ability to export your Scrapbook hierarchy as a tree in HTML (from Scrapbook Sidebar: Tools -> Output Tree as HTML). Although this isn’t completely automatic (yet) this gave me the the content I needed to add to my wiki. Now, since wikis by there very nature dont’ typically allow you to embed other HTML pages I needed to find a way to make this work.
Step 1: Setup a directory on your webserver to serve content from your Scrapbook directory (setup in Step 2 above) (e.g. http://yourwebsite/scrapbook). This can either be on the same server as your wiki or another, it doesn’t really matter.
Step 2: Verify the output of the directory tree looks good. If you enabled frames, the URL should be something like http://yourwebsite/scrapbook/tree/frame.html.
Step 3: For MediaWiki users there are various ways to directly embed pages in your wiki content. I found that the AnySite extension did the trick for me. Enable the extension, pick a wiki page where you want to display your ScrapBook data and you are set! For example, here is my content:
Mirror, mirror on the wall….
1) How can Web 2.0 applications and tools help and support my patrons coming into the library that may have some resistance to the whole technological advances? Â For example, seniors that have limited access to computers, or people that are technologically phobic?
2) How can I continue to support the growth of technology in the public library without denying our patrons of that sense of human connections? Â Where does my role as a librarian (technologically savvy) and community minded person (the greeting everyone by their name) meet in order to support each aspect of my personality?
3) What kinds of collections do I need to focus on in order for our technologically literate patrons to continue to feel supported in at same time as keeping our excitement for our print collections? Â What directions do I think Web 2.0 is taking the public library, what does it mean to be a digital librarian in the public library?
Land of the non-lost: Photosharing Pictures, memories and stories lined the walls of this land, from as far as the eye could see there were epic slide shows, photos, and albums. Â Which was the tool of choice for this newbie library manager? Â Would she go with smugmug(http:// www.smugmug.com /), photobucket (http:// photobucket.com/ ), flickr (http:// www.flickr.com /)Â - so many pics (picks) so little time! Â The land of photosharing was a rocky start for the little library manager (known now as the LM), the walks down memory lane where spectacular, and the views were amazing, but she missed some special requirements in the quest. Â How could the patrons use this tool in the public library? Â How would this new technology improve the library’s patronage or enhance their library experience? Â The LM knows that community building is extremely important in her little village, she knows that many of her patrons travel to distant locals and are interested in sharing their photos with the world. Â So she learned from Eric Schnell, in Library 2.0 and Beyond, that “The emergence of photo hosting and social networking sites like Flickr has also lead to a variety of interesting applications. Â Since many photo sites encourage the input of metadata, designers can mash photo with other information that can be associated with the metadata. Â One such result is what has become known as Geotagging.” (Courtenay, 2009, p. 64).
from wikipedia:
The patrons could network, share and inform each other through the sharing of their pictures on the flickr site, where other people could access their information, see photos of places they may want to visit or other interesting facts. Â The land of photosharing was not to be feared, it was to be embraced and explored for everyone’s entertainment. Â The LM also found that she could use images for her library website that acknowledged the artist, photographer, and people taking the pic by using a site entitled: http: //compfight.com and flickr together.
The land of adventure: VideosharingThe LM was determined to meet her next challenge in her quest, videotaping a library tour onto the hand-held sony camcorder with HD capabilities. Â The process was arduous, and time consuming! Â Fifteen hours later the 5 minute video was born and the LM could rest easier now that she saw the end result in the world of http://www.youtube.com/ . Â The LM used the video for a Board presentation, and received much congratulations and salutations! Â She was beginning to see her way clearly in these strange lands of Web 2.0.
Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly.(web cited: http:// wiki.org/wiki.cgi?WhatIsWiki . Â When they work, they work fantastically, but it can be a real challenge to get people involved. Â However, the wikipedia http:// www.wikipedia.org/ , is one of the best first stop shop for online information, for any library! Â It provides pretty much up to date information, and allows the access to information easy to navigate, and explore. Â The LM felt that she would accomplish much with this handy tool at her fingertips, helping not only her patrons but her family when a need to search for information was of the utmost importance! Â Like the terminology and origin of the word “emo” (an actual wiki search performed with 12 year old daughter!)
The LM decided right then and there that voicethread would be the tool of choice for the upcoming Seniors’ photo history project at the library. Â http://v oicethread.com/blog/ . Â Thinking back to this land, the LM knew that these tools would be a constant go-to tool for fun, sharing, and sending out information to both family, friends, and patrons!
The Land of Getting to Know You: Facebook, Twitter
Sometimes the world of the LM was a lonely one, one of inward contemplation and she wanted nothing more than shut off the noise of the twittersphere, the facebookers, the constant checkers of the happenings of other peoples’ lives. Â Although, she still found comfort in the company of old friends, on f acebook , and the newness of the twittersphere . Â Most of the libraries websites that she visited had those common icons of the twitter and f acebook …she knew that everyone was doing it. Â Heck even her recent update about the Edmonton Public Library bibliocommons came to her in a twitter. Â She knew the importance of this tool and has every intention of continuing her learning with these tools, knowing that they will be a huge benefit to the library’s new website!
The Land of Plenty: Blogs, Blogging for PD, RSSHer biggest fear turned out to be her greatest reward!  She tossed and turned at the start of her journey worrying about the RSS feeds, the knowledge of this tool is amazing to her now!  The new literacy skills that are gained using this tool are invaluable to her and her patrons.  She will continue to check her feeds, feed up on the latest technology news and keep updated on the new books coming out for her collections, and keep her patrons informed.  ”RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a convenient way to keep up with new content on your favorite website. Instead of having to click through the various sections of CincinnatiLibrary.org to see what’s new, you can have that information pushed directly to your computer! RSS has been adopted by many news services.”(web cited: http:// www.cincinnatilibrary.org/feeds/ .
Final ReflectionHas the LM returned to find her much needed inquiry quests fulfilled? Â Will she set out for another adventure? Â Are there more even more terrains to map, more explorations to play with? Â Yes, to all of the above the LM gratiously accepts. Â There are always more lands to explore, more peaks and valleys to explore, more to learn with these Web 2.0 tools. Â The LM feels more confident that these web 2.0 tools are here to enhance her library, to guide her patrons to information more quickly, and to access information when a patron needs it! Â They are not to be feared but embraced and considered a friendly guide through the world of literacy. Â Never one to shy away from new opportunities, the LM vowes to update her blog, begin the building of a new website and community link for her patrons in her little neck of the woods.
And so concludes the epic tale of a little Library Manager that had much to gain, and many adventure to partake in and many friends to meet along the way. Â Until next time…happy trails to you she sang as she surf out of sight!!!
Works cited:
Courtenay, N. Â Library 2.0 and Beyond. Â Innovative Technologies and Tomorrow’s User. Â 2007.
Davies, J & Merchant, G. Web 2.0 for Schools. Learning and Social Participation.  2009.
Farkas, Meredith. Social Software in Libraries. Â Building Collaborations, Communication, and Community Online. Â 2007.
Richardson, R.  Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. 2009.
Sauers, M. Â Blogging and RSS A Librarian’s Guide. Â 2006.
Tapscott, D. Â grown up digital. Â how the net generation is changing your world. Â 2009.
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