Comments on: Too Many Chefs in the Kitchen http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/05/17/too-many-chefs-in-the-kitchen/ A bibliophile's musings on books, libraries, the world, life, and anything else that comes to mind Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:13:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Pattern Recognition » Blog Archive » Last thoughts on SWIFT at CiL2008 http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/05/17/too-many-chefs-in-the-kitchen/#comment-23001 Pattern Recognition » Blog Archive » Last thoughts on SWIFT at CiL2008 Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:44:31 +0000 http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/05/17/too-many-chefs-in-the-kitchen/#comment-23001 [...] as hard as they tried and as much history as they have in trying to make it a commercial product. They fell hard once with their ALA Bootcamp, and if possible fell even harder with Cil2008 and [...] [...] as hard as they tried and as much history as they have in trying to make it a commercial product. They fell hard once with their ALA Bootcamp, and if possible fell even harder with Cil2008 and [...]

]]> By: Information Wants To Be Free » Blog Archive » A model for the future of online learning http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/05/17/too-many-chefs-in-the-kitchen/#comment-9705 Information Wants To Be Free » Blog Archive » A model for the future of online learning Thu, 22 Mar 2007 00:23:29 +0000 http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/05/17/too-many-chefs-in-the-kitchen/#comment-9705 [...] Last Spring, while Chairing the library track of HigherEd BlogCon and feeling like it was not an engaging enough online conference model, I had a crazy idea to create a free online conference with more synchronous and asynchronous pieces to really draw people in and build a community. I refused to believe that the only way to have the great dialogues that you have between sessions at a physical conference was by going to a physical conference. Then the ALA 2.0 Bootcamp happened and I saw how close ALA came to creating a truly great online learning opportunity and yet how they really missed the mark with it. I remember Kathleen Gilroy’s comment “the larger lesson here is that if you think you can just throw together a few pieces of technology and get things to work differently you are deluding yourselves.” When I saw that, I immediately decided that I was going to create an online course myself using as many open source tools as possible and it was going to be free and it was going to be so much better than what her organization and ALA’s money had created (note: I think Jenny and Michael did a beautiful job under the circumstances and it would probably have been far better had they been totally in control of the product). [...] [...] Last Spring, while Chairing the library track of HigherEd BlogCon and feeling like it was not an engaging enough online conference model, I had a crazy idea to create a free online conference with more synchronous and asynchronous pieces to really draw people in and build a community. I refused to believe that the only way to have the great dialogues that you have between sessions at a physical conference was by going to a physical conference. Then the ALA 2.0 Bootcamp happened and I saw how close ALA came to creating a truly great online learning opportunity and yet how they really missed the mark with it. I remember Kathleen Gilroy’s comment “the larger lesson here is that if you think you can just throw together a few pieces of technology and get things to work differently you are deluding yourselves.” When I saw that, I immediately decided that I was going to create an online course myself using as many open source tools as possible and it was going to be free and it was going to be so much better than what her organization and ALA’s money had created (note: I think Jenny and Michael did a beautiful job under the circumstances and it would probably have been far better had they been totally in control of the product). [...]

]]> By: Information Wants To Be Free » Blog Archive » On ALA 2.0 Bootcamp and free access to online learning http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/05/17/too-many-chefs-in-the-kitchen/#comment-1624 Information Wants To Be Free » Blog Archive » On ALA 2.0 Bootcamp and free access to online learning Fri, 26 May 2006 23:11:45 +0000 http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/05/17/too-many-chefs-in-the-kitchen/#comment-1624 [...] People have talked a lot about the problematic technology choices made by the Otter Group in putting this class together. I agree strongly with criticisms from Michelle Boule, Karen Schneider (and here), and Michael Casey and have been rather appalled by the way the criticisms were taken by the company hired to develop the technological infrastructure. Refusing to accept criticism or admit any fault, attacking the critics, misrepresenting what they said, asking them to take down what they wrote, and not really accepting that it could be done better couldn’t be less 2.0. If anything damages the Otter Group’s reputation in all this, I think it was their reaction to the critics. My favorite comment came from Kathleen Gilroy (of the Otter Group) who wrote on both Michelle and Karen’s blogs “The larger lesson here is that if you think you can just throw together a few pieces of technology and get things to work differently you are deluding yourselves.” Jinkies! If that doesn’t sound like a challenge, I don’t know what does! I don’t know what she means by “throw together a few pieces of technology” but yes, I think I can do it better. At least I’d like to try. [...] [...] People have talked a lot about the problematic technology choices made by the Otter Group in putting this class together. I agree strongly with criticisms from Michelle Boule, Karen Schneider (and here), and Michael Casey and have been rather appalled by the way the criticisms were taken by the company hired to develop the technological infrastructure. Refusing to accept criticism or admit any fault, attacking the critics, misrepresenting what they said, asking them to take down what they wrote, and not really accepting that it could be done better couldn’t be less 2.0. If anything damages the Otter Group’s reputation in all this, I think it was their reaction to the critics. My favorite comment came from Kathleen Gilroy (of the Otter Group) who wrote on both Michelle and Karen’s blogs “The larger lesson here is that if you think you can just throw together a few pieces of technology and get things to work differently you are deluding yourselves.” Jinkies! If that doesn’t sound like a challenge, I don’t know what does! I don’t know what she means by “throw together a few pieces of technology” but yes, I think I can do it better. At least I’d like to try. [...]

]]> By: Jane http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/05/17/too-many-chefs-in-the-kitchen/#comment-1446 Jane Mon, 22 May 2006 15:55:01 +0000 http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/05/17/too-many-chefs-in-the-kitchen/#comment-1446 John, All valid points. Thanks for participating in this very interesting conversation. I do not think the software choices are invalid, there are just things about them that I do not like. But any software will have different pros and cons. Such is life. John,
All valid points. Thanks for participating in this very interesting conversation.

I do not think the software choices are invalid, there are just things about them that I do not like. But any software will have different pros and cons. Such is life.

]]> By: John Keegan http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/05/17/too-many-chefs-in-the-kitchen/#comment-1439 John Keegan Mon, 22 May 2006 15:40:18 +0000 http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/05/17/too-many-chefs-in-the-kitchen/#comment-1439 <a href="http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/" rel="nofollow">Meredith</a> said earlier in this thread: <i>Who is going to use Blogware at their library? </i> Just for the record, I can name 3 libraries that use the Blogware platform as deployed through our <a href="http://www.blogharbor.com" rel="nofollow">BlogHarbor</a> service: <a href="http://baileylibrary.blogharbor.com/" rel="nofollow">http://baileylibrary.blogharbor.com/</a> - Bailey Library of <a href="http://www.hendrix.edu/" rel="nofollow">Hendrix College</a> (a new blog) <a href="http://blog.lib.uci.edu" rel="nofollow">http://blog.lib.uci.edu/</a> - UC Irvine <a href="http://uci-ref.lib.uci.edu" rel="nofollow">http://uci-ref.lib.uci.edu/</a> - UC Irvine reference library There may be other libraries blogging through our service, but these are just the ones I can recall off the top of my head... Just because you may not be personally familiar with a blogging tool or service shouldn't necessarily make it an invalid choice, wouldn't you agree? Of course it may be difficult to move from a tool you are familiar with to one you are not familiar with; it really is like switching from Windows to a Mac since you have pre-existing ideas about how things <i>should</i> work and bring those biases with you. New users have no biases; it's a lot easier for a new blogger to start with any blogging tool than for a current blogger who is happy with and intimate with their tool of choice to move to another tool, regardless of that tool's merits. Meredith said earlier in this thread: Who is going to use Blogware at their library?

Just for the record, I can name 3 libraries that use the Blogware platform as deployed through our BlogHarbor service:

http://baileylibrary.blogharbor.com/ - Bailey Library of Hendrix College (a new blog)

http://blog.lib.uci.edu/ - UC Irvine

http://uci-ref.lib.uci.edu/ - UC Irvine reference library

There may be other libraries blogging through our service, but these are just the ones I can recall off the top of my head… Just because you may not be personally familiar with a blogging tool or service shouldn’t necessarily make it an invalid choice, wouldn’t you agree?

Of course it may be difficult to move from a tool you are familiar with to one you are not familiar with; it really is like switching from Windows to a Mac since you have pre-existing ideas about how things should work and bring those biases with you. New users have no biases; it’s a lot easier for a new blogger to start with any blogging tool than for a current blogger who is happy with and intimate with their tool of choice to move to another tool, regardless of that tool’s merits.

]]> By: Brian Gray http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/05/17/too-many-chefs-in-the-kitchen/#comment-1262 Brian Gray Thu, 18 May 2006 17:25:06 +0000 http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/05/17/too-many-chefs-in-the-kitchen/#comment-1262 I love this discussion and awareness that ALAL2 has created! I posted <a href="http://briangray.alablog.org/blog/_archives/2006/5/18/1967474.html" rel="nofollow">my view on my ALAL2 blog</a> in order that outsiders could get as many perspectives from participants as possible. I love this discussion and awareness that ALAL2 has created!

I posted my view on my ALAL2 blog in order that outsiders could get as many perspectives from participants as possible.

]]> By: David http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/05/17/too-many-chefs-in-the-kitchen/#comment-1261 David Thu, 18 May 2006 16:49:43 +0000 http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/05/17/too-many-chefs-in-the-kitchen/#comment-1261 No, one can not support everything economically. However open source is not more expensive that commercial software, in general. But the question you have to ask is, "Do I want to pay somebody else a support contract, or do I want to spend the same amount of money for a (fraction of a) staff member to provide the support internally?" Which internal support will probably be more responsive than the average vendor. No, one can not support everything economically. However open source is not more expensive that commercial software, in general. But the question you have to ask is, “Do I want to pay somebody else a support contract, or do I want to spend the same amount of money for a (fraction of a) staff member to provide the support internally?”

Which internal support will probably be more responsive than the average vendor.

]]> By: Blake http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/05/17/too-many-chefs-in-the-kitchen/#comment-1260 Blake Thu, 18 May 2006 16:31:47 +0000 http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/05/17/too-many-chefs-in-the-kitchen/#comment-1260 "You cannot economically support everything and even free open source options often have greater costs associated with installation and support than proprietary ones." While it may be true that <b>some</b> open source options may be more expensive, this is not an area where that is true. “You cannot economically support everything and even free open source options often have greater costs associated with installation and support than proprietary ones.”

While it may be true that some open source options may be more expensive, this is not an area where that is true.

]]> By: Jane http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/05/17/too-many-chefs-in-the-kitchen/#comment-1259 Jane Thu, 18 May 2006 15:34:33 +0000 http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/05/17/too-many-chefs-in-the-kitchen/#comment-1259 Oh, God I love you ladies. I am in. Oh, God I love you ladies. I am in.

]]> By: Dorothea http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/05/17/too-many-chefs-in-the-kitchen/#comment-1258 Dorothea Thu, 18 May 2006 15:33:41 +0000 http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/05/17/too-many-chefs-in-the-kitchen/#comment-1258 I'm in. Let's talk about it! (I wonder what Open Conference Systems can do for an online conference. Might be overkill, though.) I’m in. Let’s talk about it! (I wonder what Open Conference Systems can do for an online conference. Might be overkill, though.)

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