Lib20: Media Specialist Symposium at Stockton University
I am very excited to have been asked to present the keynote and other presentations at Lib2.0 2015: A Media Specialist Symposium, in October 2015 at Stockton University (http://www.ettc.net/lib20/). At the event, I have been asked to talk about the following topics. Details for each session are below. If you are interested in having these topics delivered at your staff day training, conference, ot other speaking opportunity, please contact me at 609 553 9498 or john@lemasney.com
The aim of organizational branding efforts is to make these three ideas merge:
We are presenting a brand of some kind now (active or passive, intended or unintended) that we hope creates a positive, accurate perception by our stakeholders.
We have stakeholders that perceive our brand in some way, and we must discover what that perception is, even if it is not positive or correct.
We can do actions, enforce policies, and check stakeholder perceptions to align our brand with our intended perceptions, the very intent of branding. We are doing these things to underline and reinforce what we are, and our patrons and other stakeholders understand and agree.
Come and learn about your library’s brand, and what can be done to improve or maintain it.
Social Media For Librarians and Media Specialists
We’re in what is referred to as the third wave of Social Media: The first wave was one in which people got Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google Plus, Hoot suite, and other social media accounts to connect with others socially and casually. The second wave was one in which organizations discovered that everyone was on these services and that they should probably be there too to take part in the conversation, without necessarily knowing what that might look like, what their intent was, or what to expect about outcomes. Now, organizations are starting to make sense of how those social media accounts can help them to engage stakeholders differently than they do in person, track and make sense of visits, interactions, and connections and how that affects the rest of their work, and develop plans for success in social media in similar ways to the way that they developed their strategic plans. Come and learn how to make the most out of your social media efforts, how to decide if what you are doing is what you should be doing, and to discover what success looks like in social media outcomes.
Infographics and Visual Literacy for School Libraries
There is a trend in social media towards the visual. Images, videos and graphics get the most attention and lead more people to your other content. Social media platforms like Pinterest have grown powerful in a short period and reflect and strengthen the trend. The issue: while many of us are visual learners, not everyone considers themselves a visual creator, and so participation in the trend often is limited to simply sharing others’ images. In this session, we discover new tools that will help you to develop a beautiful visual representation of your ideas without having to become a certified graphic designer, photographer or visual communicator (even though you are likely doing those things already without much help or guidance). Learn how to create and find great images that support your ideas.
Creating Sharable Content for Libraries
In this session, John LeMasney will share 10 key ideas to consider when creating sharable content. What makes an article, image, idea, quote or other media particularly sharable? What technologies and methods can help you to give an interesting idea the best chance of being shared? How can copyright be honored and original sources be found? Why is there such emphasis now about sharing visual media over other forms? Join us for this session to help us find the answers!
Google Cloud-Based Services for Libraries
Learn how libraries can use Google’s free suite of office, productivity, organization, and life tools to improve communications and increase visibility in your community. We’ll discuss what can happen when library staff, administrators, and patrons use Google Drive, Hangouts, Maps, Calendar, Gmail, and Google Plus to advertise, communicate, and share information more effectively.
Top Ten Transliteracies for School Libraries
Transliteracy is the ability for a communicator to flexibly use a variety of methods to communicate their ideas more fully. This skill is an increasingly important one. Communicators who embrace photography, audio editing, coding, graphic design, video editing, can speak to a broader audience more easily. Let’s look at ways in which libraries can embrace, learn and take advantage of these literacies to communicate more effectively with their communities of service and practice.
The Story of the 2015 Princeton Parklet Maple Seeds
The Maple Seed sculptures at the Princeton Parklet. (60″x20″, birch plywood and glass with LEDs – Soderman, LeMasney, Brown, and Kuster)
Princeton Parklet Maple Seeds cc-by lemasney
The story of the maple seed hanging sculptures that are a part of the 2015 Princeton Parklet is a very interesting one, and I thought I’d share it as a way of thanking everyone involved in their creation. But first, some definitions.
belief is nothing but – david hume cc-by lemasney
What is a parklet?
“A parklet is a sidewalk extension that provides more space and amenities for people using the street. Usually parklets are installed on parking lanes and use several parking spaces. Parklets typically extend out from the sidewalk at the level of the sidewalk to the width of the adjacent parking space.”
“Numerical control (NC) is the automation of machine tools that are operated by precisely programmed commands encoded on a storage medium, as opposed to controlled manually via hand wheels or levers, or mechanically automated via cams alone. Most NC today is computer (or computerized) numerical control (CNC),[1] in which computers play an integral part of the control.”
I was teaching a class at Princeton Public Library on Branding, one of my favorite topics, and Peter happened to be in the audience. Afterwards, he came up and introduced himself, and promised he’d contact me about a project. I said that I’d love that and we ended up meeting for coffee to talk about the project, which happened to be the Princeton Parklet.
We walked around the city of Princeton and he showed me several of his pieces installed in restaurants and other places. He talked about the Quark Park project ), and I realized that I had followed his work for years, having visited and enjoyed that installation so much that we featured it on Technology and the Arts:
“This past fall, Princeton served as home for a venue called Quark Park that brought the idea of technology and art to life in an exciting way. Brought into existence by Kevin Wilkes, Alan Goodheart and Peter Soderman–and a host of corporate and civic donors who financed its construction, Quark Park opened in September 2006 and remained a free, public garden through the following November.”
– Why Technology & the Arts? | T&A: Technology and the Arts,
So when I put two and two together, I was in awe of who I was working with. I continue to be astounded that I have had the opportunity to work with this group of talented artists and craftsmen. So, after recovering from the realization, I agreed to work with Peter, and we met with the Arts Council to decide on our plan.
Working with Maria Evans and the Arts Council
Peter and I met with Maria Evans, who has a great story about the origins of the project:
“When the idea of a Parklet was first proposed, I had to search Google images to see what the word meant. I had a vague idea based on last fall’s ‘National Takeover a Parking Space Day’ that popped up in front of small world coffee on Witherspoon Street. Passersby were thrilled and seats were filled all day. But… it came down 12 hours later and like most public art, it left us all wanting more.”
– A Parklet? A Whatlet? | Arts Council of Princeton,
I had worked with Maria before to hang a show of 365Sketches at Princeton Public Library. This time we were working with Peter to make seeds, sculptures for the parklet. Peter produced a huge book of macro shots of seeds that we were flipping through, and we were closing in on the idea of using maple seeds, the helicopter wings that many people remember putting on their noses. The possibilities for design, the familiarity with the seeds, and the opportunity for visual linear activity made them perfect candidates. Special thanks to the township of Princeton and Mayor Liz Lempert for their dedication and support for the project. We agreed to move forward with the maple seeds. I made a few maquettes to work out the idea sculpturally.
maple seed models and maquettes cc-by lemasney
maple seed models and maquettes cc-by lemasney
maple seed models and maquettes cc-by lemasney
maple seed models and maquettes cc-by lemasney
Working in Inkscape for CNC cutting
My part in the project was the design and coördination of the pieces. Since I did not have access to a workshop or makerspace capable of these large pieces, we would need some help with cutting wood and working with other materials. But before that, we needed something to cut. So I jumped into Inkscape, grabbed a line art image of a maple seed, and traced it, then worked into it to make lines that would work with a CNC mill. This was the workspace of the design, then the final design for cutting:
maple seed heliciopter workspace cc-by lemasney
maple seed helicopter made in Inkscape cc-by lemasney
These were meant to be cut by Ned Brown, be about 5 feet tall, and have lights enclosed in a glass pocket blown by Robert Kuster, be finished and hung with the Princeton Parklet. So, this file went to Ned.
Working with Ned Brown and CadCode LLC.
I met Ned with Peter at Ned’s Country Cabinet Shop (aka CadCode, LLC) in Hillsboro. Outside of the shop is an amazing bus that he’s restoring, and I felt like I was in the right place. Given that he has a Weatherstation I figured that was an appropriate way to find out more about Ned’s Shop: http://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KNJSKILL2
Ned Brown’s Flxible bus cc-by lemasney
Ned and I had a great introductory conversation about life, music, wood, and lots of other topics. We hit it off in a grand way. After Ned and I worked to change the SVG from Inkscape to be used in his CNC Mill with his CNC software used around the world called CadCode, we cut some tests, and with satisfaction, cut the rest. We used Birch plywood sheets, and the pieces are just under 5 feet tall.
Prototype maple seed for Princeton Parklet cc-by lemasney
Prototype maple seed for Princeton Parklet cc-by lemasney
Prototype maple seed for Princeton Parklet cc-by lemasney
Prototype maple seed for Princeton Parklet cc-by lemasney
After the seeds were cut, we brought them to Bob to discuss the glass elements.
Working with Robert Kuster
Robert Kuster is a phenomenon. He’s made a lot of the amazing glass installations you find in expensive lobbies and public spaces, and does work on par with Dale Chihuly, but here in New Jersey at Belle Mead Hot Glass along with some talented craftspeople. They make glass dance, as shown in this piece from their studio:
Belle Mead Hot Glass Hospitality Sconces (Copyright, Robert Kuster)
The fact that his work and my work are in the same piece still kind of amazes me. We talked about the concept, and I only asked that some red be added to the pocket in a drizzled fashion. His glass pockets, filled with LEDs, would fill the circle at the bottom of the seed, and when they were finished they looked like this:
Robert Kuster’s blown glass for the maple seeds cc-by lemasney
The pieces were then sanded and shellacked at Hot Glass Belle Mead, and Bob delivered and installed them shortly after. Bob appears in these shots.
Some shots of the finished, installed maple seeds at the Princeton Parklet are below. When we ask people what they are we get a variety of answers, but seldom maple seeds. We hear fish most often, followed by butterfly wings, and when they hear what they are, they see it and they get it with a gasp.
What’s next for the seeds project?
First up is a metal version of the maple seed that is a floor lamp, and so far we have the first cut, pictured below. Stay tuned to http://instagram.com/lemasney for further images of that project. Also, there are other seeds coming up: A sweetgum seed and a pinecone! Images below. All of the images in this post are cc-by lemasney on Instagram, so feel free to use them, some rights reserved.
When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything. cc-by lemasney
When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything. cc-by lemasney
First, a personal definition of hacking:
Hacking is the art of working to understand something in a more complete way, to progress towards mastering it, for the sake of changing it to meet a need. Usually the result of hacking is innovations not introduced or intended in the original designs. Open source systems promote and benefit from hacking. Proprietary or closed systems make it harder to do that. Information, knowledge and recipes should be free, as in freedom. Hacking, without context, should not be used to indicate something akin to evil. It’s not.
I volunteer to take part and present in classroom interactive sessions arranged by Nepris.com. It is mostly with grade and high schools who want to talk with experts on a particular topic. I’m honored to do the work. This morning, I had the opportunity to answer the following interview questions via video chat with Stephanie Edmiston’s class in BENTON MIDDLE SCHOOL, BOSSIER PARISH via Nepris. Here’s the session description:
“Students enjoy learning about careers from people who are in the field. They like to understand how they can get on a career path and greatly appreciate practical insights and advice.” – View Session | Nepris – https://app.nepris.com/#!sessions/view/36551
Since I was going to answer these questions live, I decided to write out my answers beforehand to think about my logic, and so I’d be able to share the answers with you.
Also, Nepris was kind enough to share the video with me, so here is the video as well.
27 Interview questions for John LeMasney about being a technology consultant.
1. For an information technology/cyber security related career, what paths, opportunities, and/or strengths should the student identify or focus on?
JL: Mathematics, observational skills, and Linux. Also, try to understand every detail of knowledge contained in some thing. It can be anything: flowers, food, language. Be the most dedicated enthusiast of something, and know it through and through. Mine is Inkscape.
2. What is the job outlook in the information technology/cyber security field?
JL: Increasing exponentially. Internet of things, Cyber attacks nationally and internationally, Sony, etc.
3. How did you become interested in this field?
JL: I first caught the bug in a class in college where we were in a computer lab. I wanted desperately to be a computer lab tech for the classroom. I wanted to help people to know what I knew about computers and technology. It excited me, and I spent the rest of my life doing that.
4. Did you know you were going to do this job when you were a teenager?
JL: Not really, but I was an early enthusiast. I learned Basic on a TI99-4A at 12, basically at the urging and influence of my mother (sensing the increasing importance of technology), and I fell in love with technology in waves throughout my life.
5. What is your educational background?
JL: I have a Bachelor’s of Fine Art in Sculpture, and a Master’s in Organizational Leadership with a focus on Communications. I am a lifelong learner. People tend to find my Degrees odd, in that there are not technology degrees there. My knowledge about technology comes from my passion for it. My degrees helped with understanding creativity and organizations, and I use those skills every day in my technology work.
6. What types of courses do you recommend for high school students?
JL: Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. (STEAM)
7. Did you find any clubs or extra-curricular activities especially helpful?
JL: I find the rise in robotics teams and Makerspaces to be amazingly helpful. There are often computer enthusiast clubs, and lots of opportunities to learn about making and hacking. We are having a Princeton Hackathon to help solve civic problems like potholes with tools like Arduino. The entire community is welcome to learn to hack.
8. Is an advanced degree essential to career success in this field?
JL: No, though I find that pursuing higher levels of knowledge to be very common among hackers. Hackers are often lifelong learners.
9. What skills are the most important to acquire in this field?
JL: Learn and practice open source code. Learn everything you can about the ways that code works, which you can do with open source projects. Then, use it in unexpected ways. Figure out the essence of what makes code work, and you can be a stellar computer security specialist or technologist.
10. What professional organizations should students join to be successful in this field?
JL: Join Maker groups and find Makerspaces in your area, often in libraries. Look for Linux Users Groups (LUGs) and Computer Users Groups (CUGs), and find topics to present on.
11. Your consulting practice covers a wide range of services. What is your primary focus, and what are your major job responsibilities?
JL: My primary focus is Web Development, and my job responsibilities include Server Management (Apache, MySQL), Service Management (WordPress, Drupal), Graphic Design (Inkscape), Branding (a marketing imprint), and Customer Service (how can I help you?).
12. Do you work with other people, on a team, or by yourself?
JL: All of the above. I am an individual consultant, with my business. I work alone a lot, or in co-working spaces, like my library, because it often leads to new connections or re-connections with colleagues and clients. I often pair or team up with people for short-term or long-term projects. I just had dinner with the team for TEDxCarnegieLake, in which I was the technologist on staff. I also teach at several local libraries, schools, and universities, all of whom have people I have to work with to arrange times, space issues, technology infrastructure, etc. I recently worked with the technology staff of a local school district to migrate to Google Apps for Education, all of whom knew most of what I knew.
13. What is your typical day like?
JL: I start at about 9 am, and often go until 2 am. My life and work float in and out of each other, which keeps things interesting. If I have meetings that day, I usually arrange them in places near each other to keep travel down, and often between 10-12 or 2-4. I have some luxury with my meals, which is nice, because I love to cook and I’m a foodie. Also, I will often reward myself with a nice walk if I’m keeping up with projects. The work-life balance of a consultant can be very rewarding. I usually keep coding work for late at night, when it’s quiet, and I can focus. But it’s hard to describe a typical day, as I don’t often have two days alike.
14. What are the greatest challenges and rewards of your position?
JL: The greatest challenge, by far, is keeping a steady income and managing it. In the work that I did in Academia as an Instructional technologist, there was a check that came every month. Now, I get lots of checks, but all with relatively small amounts compared to a 9-5 job. There are a lot of $125 checks that have to come in to add up to a $40,000 salary.
The greatest reward by a mile, is flexibility. If I don’t want to work today, and can afford to take a break, I do. No demerits, no excuses, no concerns. If I want to go take a walk because it is an amazingly beautiful day, I do. It would take a hard, hard year to make me want the 9-5 schedule back.
15. Do you travel in your work?
JL: I travel a lot! I travel every week to NYC, Princeton. Philadelphia, Cherry Hill, Bucks County, Trenton, and other local areas for work. However, I visited (with gratis travel) to LA, San Francisco, Washington DC, Maryland, and Chicago since January. I really do not enjoy driving, but I do get to listen to my favorite podcasts, like All About Android, and This Week in Google.
16. Can you work from home some or part of the time?
JL: I work from home most of the time, unless I am meeting a client, or presenting. There are days where I work all day from home, and never leave.
17. Are there any health hazards in this profession?
JL: Generally speaking, not really. I encountered a lot more danger in my time as an artist with chemicals and solvents and tools. There is a lot of driving, and the issues that go with that. I guess inhaling solder fumes or getting electrocuted, maybe? There are a lot of amps in a power supply.
18. How would you describe the culture of your workplace?
19. What is a common myth or misconception about your job?
JL: I am often surprised at how often truly brilliant people marvel at what I know about technology. I think that people think that it is a special kind of knowledge, but it’s only as special as 1000 other expertise areas, like cooking or gardening or fishing or selling, all of which have an amazing depth and breadth to explore. The myth is that technology is especially difficult to learn or know deeply comparative to any other expertise worth diving into. .
20. Contrast the role of an independent consultant with employment in a large company.
JL: I’ve done both. In a large company, you are a cog. I am not using the term negatively. You might be a very important cog that keeps the mill running, but at the end of the day, you are a small part of a large machine. As an independent consultant, you are the entire machine connecting to cogs of other machines.
21. What do you enjoy most about your job?
JL: It’s a toss-up between waking up when I want and the pride that I feel in my work.
22. Can you describe related jobs in your field of work which might also be of interest to the students?
JL: System Administrator, Emerging Technologist, App developer.
23. What type of student work or internship experience would employers look for in a job applicant?
JL: Library, volunteer, tutor, study abroad, web development intern. At least that’s what I would look for. In all honesty, the interview is most important, and it’s the answers you can give to problems they have more so than anything else. If you can describe how to solve a problem the employer didn’t know they were having, that’s impressive. Security expert applicants should find holes in the systems of their potential employers and demonstrate them in interview. I’d hire that person.
24. How did you locate the right people to help you along the path to a successful career?
JL: I have no earthly idea. My best explanation is that I made myself available, offered to volunteer, and put myself in contact with ‘hubs’, people who enjoy connecting people. The person who launched my independent consultant career asked me to speak at a library about technology, and that is when everything changed as far as considering technology as an independent consultant. She ended up creating hundreds of connections for me, including many other hubs, and I will be forever grateful. Her name is Janie Hermann, she is at the Princeton Public Library, and she is a force to be reckoned with. She and other members of the library recently won an award for programming at PPL from NJLA. #Libraries have become incredibly important to my work, mostly because of Janie.
25. What type of compensation range and benefits should students expect in this industry?
JL: As a technologist or manager at a university, expect between 50-90 unless you pursue administrative positions, which can be 120,000 or more. As an independent consultant, expect more like 40-60 for a few years. Develop a business plan if you want to be an independent consultant. Know your expenses through and through.
26. In this field, is it more common to be paid by a predetermined consultant fee, sales commission, or salary?
JL: I don’t know anyone in my industry who works on commission. We are often selling ourselves or selling an idea and executing it, but not for commission. 🙂 Technologists in organizations are often salaried. I work on a rate that varies according to the client. Here’s my Rate and Policy Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1trir4rpKcTeK0xBWZcEPbE9cGcv6S5ycB18yEK36-5Y/pub?embedded=true
27. What is the most important piece of advice you would give to someone going into this career field?
JL: Treat people well. Treat people with kindness and dignity and truth. Learn everything you can and then give that knowledge away as freely as you can. Become a source of joy for the people you work with. Laugh every day.
Amazon/iTMS links in Google Maps Placemark (Photo credit: earthhopper)
Geofencing
In the last week or so, I was contacted by a team leader about developing marketing tools and social media to support a new mobile app. The startup (we’re still working on the name and brand) focuses on Geofencing. Geofencing is a technology that uses the sensors on your phone (cellular, wi-fi, and GPS) to decide if you are in a certain specific area, and then do something with that information, often automatically. Some great apps exist that make use of GeoFencing. Two that come to mind are Smart Places Checkin for Android and Tasker for Android.
Existing solutions
Smart Places Checkin for Android allows me to set up geofencing zones and then automatically check in to those places on Facebook, along with stats. It’s beautiful, and I have several zones set up. However, it’s difficult in my opinion to set up those zones, and the UI could use some work. What’s more, it only does that one singular thing: share my location with Facebook. I want that functionality, but I want flexibility to do other things too.
Geofencing example (Photo credit: James Cridland)
Tasker for Android is a superb application that allows you to do everything you could imagine with the sensors on your phone, and as a result, you can set actions to be performed with your phone based on your location. Tasker is brilliant, but especially difficult to use for the uninitiated. The UI, in particular, could use an overhaul, or a “light” mode.
Our idea
What we are proposing started as simply a geofencing coupon app. It was like super-local groupons that pop up when you are near a deal. But after seeing what the app is capable of, we are looking to be able to do that and a lot more.
If we incorporate gamification features, a social layer that allows tie in to Facebook, Twitter or G+, sharing IFTTT style recipes between users, and other features related to Geofencing, we could really have something. People can choose to create scenarios like those below and share them for customization by others. Consider the following examples:
Use the app to create geozone based easter eggs, and create a reward (for businesses, it might be a discount, for others it might be a badge) for collecting all the ‘eggs’.
Use the app to create awareness of location between you and your significant other or children so that you always know where each other are.
Use the app to design a tour of a campus, lab, city, or route, with messaging related to placemarks.
Use the app to create one-off or repeating reminders to yourself or others that while you are near the Post Office, drop off the mail; While near the grocery store, pick up eggs.
Use the app to track your movement along your path for later review.
Use the app to give yourself points or a badge when you visit a friend’s house or some other task that you want to encourage yourself to do more often, and share the recipe with your friends to encourage them to do the same. Automatically share your points or visit with Facebook.
I could list another 10 examples, but I imagine that you have your own examples that you are thinking about. When this was just a geofencing coupon app, I have to admit, I was not as excited. But with the potential flexibility and extensibility of this, I could not be more so. Stay tuned for more on this as it develops!
Related articles
Creating smarter apps with geofencing
Frencer: A Free Android Geofencing App
Self-Taught Developer David Richard Harnesses the Power of Geofencing to Create a New Type of Local Network with His New Mobile App JaVu
I got an email today that asked me if my work could be used as an album cover, and I am delighted.
To Mr Lemasney
My name is Guy Joynson. I’m a UK based musician and photographer. I hope you’re well. I’m currently recording my first EP which is a covers EP featuring four songs which are: Jolene- Dolly Parton, Used To Love You- John Legend, Only Love- Ben Howard and Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show. I love your stormtrooper print and was wondering if I would be able to use it on the front cover of my EP? It’s only to give out as a demo and will make no profit. I have also attached a copyright notice to the back cover of the EP. I have attached a layout of the EP to this email. I hope you like it. I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards
Guy Joynson
Web: www.guyjoynson.com
Tel: redacted
E-mail: redacted
Twitter: @GJ_Photography
: @Guy_Joynson
The album cover, including attribution to me is here:
Album cover, Guy Joynson
The original work is on 365sketches.org, here.
Decorative classic stormtrooper mask by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #cc #design #art
There’s of course the issue of the use of an item from the Star Wars universe, and the fact that Lucas et al. have always strongly protected their work, but I doubt that anyone sees either Guy or I as any kind of monetary threat. Also, I highly doubt that anyone thinks that I was the designer of the original classic stormtrooper design.
My response was as follows:
I’d be honored. I use a creative commons – attribution license, and not copyright, which asks only that you mention me as the artist (preferred: “Stormtrooper helmet by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org (cc-a)”), but you have more than met the requirements of the license.
Congrats on the release, and I really appreciate that you asked!
Creating smarter apps with geofencing
Frencer: A Free Android Geofencing App
Self-Taught Developer David Richard Harnesses the Power of Geofencing to Create a New Type of Local Network with His New Mobile App JaVu
Keep a watchful eye on your kid with the Trax wearable sensor
