Rambling Librarian :: Incidental Thoughts of a Singapore Liblogarian

Quoted in ST article, about Twitter (or "How I deal with angry situations if I'm blogging about it")

2009-07-13T22:36:00.005+08:00

Last week, ST journalist, Serene Luo, emailed me asking if I could provide some comments for an article she's rushing out. Because some of her questions had to do with NLB's official policy, I cleared the request with NLB Corp Comms. They said OK.

For a concise version of the ST story, check out "Jitters over Twitter", 9 Jul 09.

In essence, she asked my Corp Comms if NLB has a corporate policy on new media. The full story quoted the NLB as saying there was one, which came out first quarter of 2009.

During the phone interview, Serene asked me what I kept at the back of my mind when writing a blog post, especially if I was angry. Here's what appeared in the article:

Blogger Ivan Chew, who is a manager at the National Library Board, said he tries to treat each blog post as an e-mail: 'Once you put it out, there's no taking it back.' Asked what he would keep in mind when writing a post, he said: 'If I'm writing because I'm angry, I'll save it as a draft and revisit it when I'm more calm. There are better ways to resolve issues.'

This reminds me -- when I first started blogging, I was always conscious of these points:

Why do I want to blog about it?
Is it my business to talk about it?
If I do blog about it, am I willing and able to live with the consequences?

Asking "Why" is to make sure I write/ blog for the 'right' reasons. Of course, what's considered 'right' might be personal and subjective. But essentially, the Why question serves as an intellectual Stop sign at a traffic junction. To make me pause and think.

For the "is it my business to talk about it" part, it's to remind myself that my "work-related" posts deal with things that are meant to be publicised.

I'm also mindful not to jump the gun and tell the world things that my employer has not made public yet, even though the information eventually is meant for public consumption. I'd consider if my employer intends to issue a public announcement.

If yes, obviously I'd wait for that and then link to the news. If no, I'll often check with my own colleagues and bosses, just to be sure. I don't consider this being overly cautious. What I want to avoid is for good intents (on my part) to be misunderstood and avoid unnecessary grief to colleagues and myself.

The #3 "am I willing to live with the consequences" question is useful particularly when the answer to #2 is not so clear-cut. So far I've not faced such dilemmas. In many ways, this #3 personal guideline is to ensure that while I'm no rebel, there's a balance to ensure I can speak up if the situation warrants it.

Make sure my statements can be backed up with facts. Or if I'm making claims and subjective statements, then one doesn't have to be confrontational. I've always maintained a big part is about How we write, in addition to What.

I tend to trust my intuition (as I'm sure more reflective bloggers/ writers tend to do). If I still feel doubts, I'd go back to consider #1. That's usually enough for me to consider not posting it. Or simply re-writing it to review the tone.

Above all else, I should probably add a #4: apply common sense and respect.

It doesn't really matter if one blogs or Tweet. Substitute the words "blog" or "tweet" (or any social media action-word of choice) with "Talk".

You know, I wonder if NLB would ever make the policy public?

Imagine a page on the corporate website, with a public link to the corporate new media guidelines/ policy. And a list of employees and their blogs/ Twitter/ Facebook -- personal or official ones (voluntarily added for the former).

Librarians 2.0!

Singaporean Kevin Lim on CBC Business News: Examining eBooks

2009-07-10T23:04:00.002+08:00

Friend and fellow Singaporean blogger, Kevin Lim, was interviewed by Canada's CBC Business News.

Kevin's blog post, here.

The first question was "Why are eBooks taking so long to turn mainstream?", i.e. why consumption/ sales of eBooks hasn't taken hold as fast as digital music/ video.

Kevin's response was essentially about User Experience. That the experience in consuming music and video is essentially the same if you watch from the big screen or from a DVD Vs. iPod or portable devices. Whereas the reading experience is vastly different if you read off a digital device Vs. a print copy.

I agree.

Though I'd add a claim.

That fewer people read for pleasure compared to listening to music or watching videos.

It is far effortless to listen to music and watch videos. So that makes it more popular.

Reading, as all readers know, takes more intellectual effort. You can't just 'read in the text' without churning words into meaning.

I'm not saying those who listen to music or watch videos are lazier than those who read.

I think it has to do with human evolution and biology.

Music (aural) and videos (visual) affect our human brains a much more direct way. Like, there's less conscious processing and effort involved. Whereas reading requires the brain to process text into language into ideas, concepts and meaning.

At least, that's what I think.

Oh. And now Kevin is probably a household name in Canada, eh? :)

Sony Singapore's "Help A Child Learn to Read: Donate Children’s Books to the South Africa Mobile Library Project" - 1st to 31st July '09

2009-07-05T16:20:00.004+08:00

From Sony Singapore:

The purpose of this project is to visit schools in remote areas with books for children and teachers who would otherwise not have access to such learning materials.

Sony Singapore will be conducting a book donation drive from 1 - 31 July 2009, and we encourage you to donate English children's books (new or used) at the new Sony Style store at Orchard Central. So come down to Sony Style and help a child learn to read today!

Details on what books will be accepted/ rejected, as well as collection date/ time/ venue at this Sony Singapore webpage (sharedcopy link, here).

Thanks to PJ for the alert.

READ! Singapore - READING MARATHON 2009

2009-07-02T20:59:00.003+08:00

This was in-progress when I passed by the National Library event plaza this evening:

The NLB was getting ready for this event (which is part of READ! Singapore 2009).

.

PBL Symposium 11 - 12 Jun 09 (Part 10): PBL and Public Libraries

2009-06-24T00:39:00.000+08:00

[From Part 9]

OK, my final post regarding the Three-day PBL symposium. No substantial insights, I've to qualify.

As I mentioned in Part 1, I didn't have any specific expectations of the symposium. My main aim was to get some insights on Problem Based Learning (PBL). To get a feel of the trends and what educators are thinking/ doing.

APPRECIATION OF PBL
I started without any real appreciation of what is PBL. At the end, I can say I've internalised some aspects the Republic Poly's One Day One Problem approach). Come to think of it, this series of PBL posts is my Reflective Journal for the conference.

PBL is definitely not a teaching-fad. But it's not a complete replacement for all teaching methods.

To paraphrase Dr. Mark Serva (Day-1) a lecture format is still an efficient way to deliver information. If the intent is to deliver information in an efficient manner.

EMPHASIS ON INFORMATION-QUALITY LACKING IN PBL?
I'm careful to put a question-mark at the end of the header. I've not gone through any substantial PBL situation, so I'm not sure how much scrutiny is given to the information that students cite as part of their information search.

Maybe their quality of information (or lack of) will reveal itself, as facilitators probe and ask students to justify their responses.

THE LIBRARY IS A RESOURCE!
It's clear with PBL there is no prescribed text-book.

I know what you might think next: The Internet is the main resource for students taking PBL classes, right?

Probably true.

Ah, here's the good news (for librarians): Sharen the RP librarian, who gave me the tour, told me their students also recognise that not all answers are found on the Internet. They would turn to the RP library.

But not all students are aware of all books and library materials that might be relevant. And they may not ask the librarians.

BTW, I suggested to Sharen that their library blog could interview students who have used a particular library collection (e.g. book). Instead of featuring book reviews per se, just ask students simple questions like "Why did you choose this book?", "Which part did you find relevant to the Problem you're working on right now?".

A FEW CLAIMS
Here goes:

Students exposed to the PBL way are also comfortable with independently searching for information, as part the learning experience.
PBL makes students adopt an independent self-learning approach; which forms the basis of life-long learning.
They are exposed to the library as a resource.
As adults, they carry this habit, mindset and impression of the library with them.

The logical, albeit simple, conclusion: PBL ensures the viability of libraries in the long term?

OK, just pure speculation at this point.

But at some level, I can't help but feel that a PBL approach to learning can be connected with public libraries. For instance, let's say more institutions (even company training departments) adopt a PBL approach to learning at some level. For PBL, one big support infrastructure needed is access to information. The Internet is one source and the public library is the other one.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Going purely from my feel from the symposium, I think the legitimacy of PBL is not in question. Educators are also generally aware what PBL is good for, and what learning situations it may not be appropriate (e.g. where student maturity and self-motivation is low).

The real question seems to be how to go about implementing PBL (especially tackling the challenge of already having a traditional teaching curriculum in place) and how to assess PBL's outcomes and effectiveness relative to typical teaching approaches.

Which then means the traditional "teacher-focus" approach will still be the most widely used.

At least for now.

(Twitter hashtag #pbl09w)

PBL Symposium (Part 9): A greater appreciation of what "Student-focus" means

2009-06-23T22:53:00.004+08:00

[From Part 8]

I've heard the term "Student-centered Learning" being mentioned a few times during the three-day symposium. I've a better appreciation what the phrase means, now that I read articles like these:

Student-centred learning: What does it mean for students and lecturers? (n.d.). . Retrieved June 23, 2009, from www.aishe.org/readings/2005-1/oneill-mcmahon-Tues_19th_Oct_SCL.html
Student-centred learning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). . Retrieved June 23, 2009, from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student-centered_learning

Some thoughts about the idea of "Student-centered learning", from my brief encounter with PBL.

WHAT ABOUT 'SLOWER' STUDENTS?
What if an individual student was slower at absorbing the concepts? I asked if there were remedial sessions (for slower students).

Answer was no.

Almost immediately, I realised why: Inherent in PBL is that the onus is on student to buck up. Which also means PBL requires students to have a certain level of maturity and motivation.

STUDENTS CANNOT AFFORD TO DISENGAGE THEMSELVES
In PBL, you're made to work harder as a student. Each student would get to present at some point.

I realised if I didn't force myself to stay engaged (no matter how disinterested I was in the engineering problem) I would not be able to explain when asked to.

In a real class, facilitators would observe students who seem to lag and disengage from the discussion. They can tell who might have problems following the class, from their presentations and responses (or lack of).

STUDENT-LED LEARNING
I think I understand better what is meant by "student-led" learning.

In a sense, the students lead in terms of responses, not necessarily answers. Each team would share their interpretation and rationale. Peers would question/ challenge their peers.

The facilitator said they found student discussions more forthcoming with this approach. I'm not surprised. I think students generally don't want to challenge the teacher whereas the PBL approach creates a more level playing field, so to speak.

The presentation format made the student get used to ideas being challenged. So they are forced to think through before proposing further answers.

I think effective students are honest about what they don't know.

And who would take it upon themselves to reduce that knowledge gap (as opposed to asking teachers to give them the required information).

ONUS IS ON STUDENT TO LEARN
I admitted to the facilitator that I was perhaps hindered by my mental model of what "education" should be. I was expecting to be told what the objective was (e.g. "Linear Programming") and would be happy to be told what it was and how to apply it.

At one point, I wanted to be told what to do.

I wanted to be told how to work on the problem, get on with it, and arrive at a "correct answer". That was how I was schooled for the most part of my student life.

But I realised while that approach was efficient from the "transfer of information" view point, the retention of information was definitely not as long-lasting as the PBL approach.

SUPPORT STRUCTURES
Of course, that does not mean students are left to their own devices. There are facilitators, and there are facilitators who go the extra mile.

One RP academic staff told me his approach was to identify the weaker students (from the tests and various assessments). He would speak to them and he would know if they were really lost. Then he would offer to give more pointers to the students on what to look up and/ or explain the concepts in greater detail.

But again, he admitted the final responsibility was on the student to want to learn.

***

I concluded that for PBL to show results, you really need students who have a certain level of maturity and motivation.

PBL will not motivate the un-motivated.

However, if my experience with the mock PBL lession is anything to go by, PBL is a very effective for students whose process of deriving understanding is best served through an internalisation, 'experiential' and iterative process.

(Twitter hashtag #pbl09w)

[Next: Part 10]

PBL Symposium 11 - 12 Jun 09 (Part 8): A simulated PBL lesson

2009-06-23T22:48:00.001+08:00

[From Part 7]

On Day-2. 11 June 09.

"What happens if, in a student-led discussion, the entire group goes off track and doesn't grasp basic concepts that they are required to have?"

I asked my friend Mr. Grain Baysa-Pee at lunch today. He's a ~~lecturer~~ Senior Academic Staff at Republic Polytechnic (RP).

He clarified that by the time students make their third and final group presentations for the day's PBL lesson, they would have realised what they don't know, based on what the other groups have presented. Or through probing questions by the facilitator.

"Why can't the facilitator just tell them the concepts?" I queried further.

No, the facilitator should NOT say "That's wrong". The PBL approach was designed to let students internalise the error themselves.

My friend added: "What would (the facilitator) have achieved by telling students the 'right' concepts? It would only have satisfied the facilitator's need to tell them. But students would not know the significance".

I had a chance to internalise what my friend meant, next.

A SIMULATION: PBL in Engineering Education.

The symposium offered a few PBL 'mock' sessions. I attended the engineering-related one.

I've absolutely no engineering background. And I tend to be slow in grasping mathematical concepts (unless I can draw/ visualise it). But the aim of the shortened simulated PBL lesson (RP's unique "One Day One Problem" approach) was not to make an engineer out of me.

In fact, I wanted to experience first hand what a slower student* might feel in a PBL setting.

A 'SIMPLIFIED' PROBLEM
The normal PBL lesson, RP style, spans one full day. There would be a 'First Meeting' and 'First Study Period' (both one hour each). Then a Second Meeting/ Study Period (another hour each). Finally a Third Meeting (two hours).

The First Meeting was to define and understand the problem. The document detailing the 'problem scenario' was preloaded on the laptop:

The stated 'problem' involved percentages and ratios in sourcing and mixing iron-ores to produce steel. Three different country sources meant different costs. The alloy mixtures were sub-categorised by three different grades of steel (A to C), depending on variations to the percentages.

The phrasing of the problem, including the facts stated as part of the problem scenario, were realistic.

The line "Can you help Kawa-san" seems to reinforce the realism.

I re-read the 'problem' three times and still didn't quite get it. This was supposed to be simplified!

Upon hindsight, I think that might have been deliberate. In real-life, we may recognise a 'problem situation' but even so, things may not be clearly defined and require time to clarify.

[ASIDE: KEY ELEMENTS IN RP's PBL]
One of the facilitator, Hisham, explained that the key elements were:
Learning environment (group work; 5 students per team; wireless Internet access to allow them to obtain resources, references)
Problem statement and Daily Activities (Prob scenario design, 'Scaffolding', Facilitation, Presentation, Assessment)
Reflection (student journal)

The problem scenario would be something students can relate to in their daily/ real life. At this point of the PBL session, students are not told of learning objectives. That would only be revealed at the end of the session.

STUCK ALREADY?!
At that point, I felt unsure of what to do next. I couldn't quite appreciate what the guy I was supposed to help, Kawa-san, had to do.

In a hazy way, I knew he had to make a decision on how much iron ore to buy from each source. But I wasn't quite clear how to approach it.

Then the facilitator introduced a "problem definition template". It was a simple three-column table with the headers: "What do you already know, based on prior knowledge"; "What don't you know or are unsure"; "What do you need to find out?"

PROBLEM DEFINITION TEMPLATE
A quick discussion with my team partner (there were only two of us in the group) resulted in this:

At the second column, "What I do not know" , I wrote point 2: "What (does) the ratio for (mixing the) alloy mean". I wrote that with some reluctance, as I shall explain further.

Each team had to explain their problem definition template. Facilitators would ask probing questions at this point. My team was asked to clarify what we wrote for "Don't Know/ Unsure". Particularly point 2.

So I honestly said, "The facts are just data to me. There is no meaning as I look at the stated numbers and ratios".

OVERCOMING THE FEAR OF REVEALING ONE'S IGNORANCE
In a classroom setting, it was quite daunting to admit in front of strangers that you don't know something!

It didn't help when one other group was very advanced and already in the process of devising a mathematical solution to the problem. They had superior prior knowledge (not surprising, as they comprised of participants who were probably engineers with PhDs).

Yet I was glad I went for honesty instead of feigning intelligence.

Because after I explained to the class that the ratios don't hold meaning to me, the facilitator asked the 'advanced' group how they understood the ratio.

That group paused and stared. They hesitated.

It was as if I'd asked an extremely rudimentary question. Too simple to have even been raised at all, at this level.

But it turned out that group had made certain assumptions. As well as others.

The advanced group said, "We'd assumed it meant 'weight'".

"Ah, the unit of measurement isn't stated in the problem," prompted the facilitator. Whereby another group quickly said they'd assumed it meant "mass".

Suddenly I didn't feel that stupid for raising the question!

QUESTIONING ASSUMPTIONS
The facilitator deftly focused the discussion on whether the ratio meant "weight" or "volume" or "mass". Finally there was consensus on interpreting what the ratio meant.

I kept quiet throughout that episode. But my mind was actively making sense of the discussion. The ratios meant something to me now. Pretty simple yet amazing process, I thought.

For me, that simple act of admitting my ignorance, and the facilitators being able to channel that as a discussion point, clarified what I was really not able to articulate when I wrote "I don't know".

The simple three-column "problem definition template" allowed for interpretations and assumptions to surface. This was something I can bring back and share with colleagues. When delving into complex problem scenarios, there's a risk of interpreting the problem wrongly. Using the template may help negate that.

SCAFFOLDING
Then a second worksheet was given. There were more questions for us to consider (e.g. how would the problem be formulated from the perspective of 'cost'? Or maximising 'profits'?)

Basically more prompts to help us frame and conceptualise the problem.

This aspect of PBL was termed as a "scaffold". I understood it to mean various supporting tools -- worksheets or computer simulation programs -- anything that helps the student to frame and understand the problem better.

FACILITATE, NOT GIVE ANSWERS
The facilitators do not offer answers or solutions at any stage. They aimed to nudge students towards developing their own solutions.

In the mock PBL, at no point did the facilitators say "look up to solve the problem".

We were guided on writing and expressing the problem statements as equations. Which was a handy want to conceptualise the statements. That itself seems to be a hint but the faciliators stopped short of telling you what to do next.

INTERNALISING THE PROBLEM
I understood better how inherent in PBL was the process to make students internalise the the problem.

Contrast this with traditional teaching, where problems are merely given to students. The aim was to make students arrive at a solution (often a limited one), rather than to appreciate the problem and therefore being able to explore deeper solutions to the problem.

I asked: what if some students developed a solution without using the method/ intended concept to be gained for that session? E.g. instead of using linear programming, what if student develops a complicated but valid way to develop a solution?

"It's OK. It's the process."

It might not be exactly the answer. Or it might take a longer time to derive the answer. But in real world it might still work. That's how I understood it.

I also realised the logic to the above approach is that a student would realise which solution was the more elegant and efficient one. Which means greater understanding and appreciation of the 'preferred solution'.

HOW WOULD ALL STUDENTS LEARN WHAT THEY HAVE TO LEARN?
At that point I asked a facilitator how they would ensure all students picked up the same learning objectives?

For instance, what was the lesson of the day? Something to do with Simultaneous Equations? Or what?

Since this was a mock tutorial, I was told the lesson objective was about Linear Programming.

The facilitator explained that through group presentations, students would have to explain the rationale for their solution. Like why they decided on certain approaches; use of certain principles or concepts. Through open-ended questions, they are further prompted to explain the process of arriving at the group decisions.

Through this process, required concepts would be uncovered. If solutions presented were incomplete, other students would help out.

Another way to ensure students get to learn the required concepts is through reading materials distributed at end of the day (rather than at the start).

ASSESSMENT
The assessment module (via their LEO module, mentioned here) was also part of the process to determine if students have identified and understood the required concepts.

Daily grades are the main assess tools. The student presentations would confirm their understanding. There could also be quizzes and other such means of assessment. There are also written tests to check their level of understanding (Understanding Tests).

TEACH LESS, LEARN MORE
As I reflect on the mock PBL session, I'm reminded of our MOE's Teach Less, Learn More doctrine.

Seems to be RP is doing right in this regards.

I'm amazed there's no "instructional teaching/ telling" at all. Students are assessed on their level of engagement, their participation. Those who don't meet the expected level of participation would ultimate get a Fail grade for the day.

In an actual RP's PBL session, students would not be told they were learning about Linear Programming (which was what the simulation was about).

That seems to be the old way, where topics are stated at the start. I think the logic is that when you state the learning objectives immediately, there's a tendency to focus on the outcomes rather than the process.

***

Thanks to the RP academic staff for ably leading the simulated session: Urvi Maniar, Tan Yee Ping, Lim Chiew Yen and Hisham Moosa

(Twitter hashtag #pbl09w)

[Next: Part 9]

PBL Symposium (Part 7): Republic Polytechnic library

2009-06-20T23:00:00.002+08:00

[From Part 6]

Day 3, Jun 12, 2009.

During the break, one of the RP librarian, Sharen, was kind enough to give me a tour of their library.

It was my first visit.

Their library opened in 2006; here's a LAS blog article on RP library's architecture and design philosophy.

My first impression: RP Library has lots of space! Very nice. Reminded me of the Bibliothèque de Charlesbourg (Charlesbourg Public Library), which I visited at the IFLA conference last year.

Most students were away for their term break, so the library was less crowded than normal.

Instead of photocopier machines, they provide scanners (they do have photocopiers on campus, but one can imagine a scanner would be much more used in line with RP's paperless campus concept).

There's a Games Room. Computer games could be borrowed and played in the room (overdue fees would be imposed it they returned the games late). RP offers a diploma in Games Design, btw. But I don't think you'd have to be taking that diploma to utilise this RP library service :)

I already said their library is spacious, didn't I?

At one point, my tour guide pulled open what seemed to be a recessed door in a wall, and revealed board games that students can borrow.

The grey-coloured panels pictured below could be swung open, to create private spaces. The picture below shows the "open" configuration.

A book-bin next to the book shelf.

This area served as an exhibition space. Very cozy. There's a piano and guitar at the far end. Students were encouraged to play and lounge there.

During the tour, someone was playing a song on the piano. It was quite loud and you could hear it downstairs. But it wasn't unpleasant. :)

Here's another wing of the library.

More study and discussion spaces. I can appreciate why lots of spaces are needed, since RP practices its unique "One Day One Problem" PBL programme. Students have to work in teams as part of their course work.

Up another level and we were at the Student Career Centre.

The view from upstairs.

Here's a closer shot of their programme zone, at their south entrance. They'd hold talks and library programmes there, and those walking outside would be able to see what's going on as well.

I'm impressed.

I didn't really ask about their collection size or digital collection policies. Was just enjoying the atmosphere of the library.

One would think this was a public library and not an academic library. In fact, RP has a unique policy of allowing members of the public to use their facilitaties and collections (although to borrow the materials, you'd have to be a member).

I asked if that posed problems to students and staff. Answer was no.

Quite innovative of RP Library to adopt that sort of policy, imho. I can imagine potential RP students using the library, being familiar with the campus. Which is a way to publicise the courses and services to future students.

I walked away wishing one of our public library could look like this. Who knows? :)

BTW, the RP Library has a blog at weblog.rp.sg.

(Twitter hashtag #pbl09w)

[Next: Part 8]

PBL Symposium (Part 6): Technology implementation at Republic Polytechnic

2009-06-17T22:54:00.002+08:00

[From Part 5]

Day-3, 12 June 2009.

Mr. Yow Hon Kong, Republic Polytechnic's (RP) Deputy Director, Office of Information Services. He shared about their IT implementation rationale.

RP started with a stretch goal of having a campus that is entirely paperless: lessons, lecture notes, official documents etc.

Says their initial challenge was to manage administrative overheads with the same operational budget for IT (as other polytechnics); not so much for Problem-based Learning per se.

The technology RP uses isn't new. Says it is "less of a technology implementation and more of a cultural implementation".

RP staff are issued individual laptops. They can even synch their mobile phones with a virtual phone app (VOIP) on their laptops. Phone calls can be made from their laptops over the campus-wide WIFI.

RP uses email accounts as electronic filing cabinets. Each departmental email account is their official filing cabinet.

As far as I understand, they do not employ any taxonomy schemes nor are staff required to index or tag their documents. RP's efiling system is more of a "info dump" and used for unstructured data. No manual indexing.

Their IT team created a email/ e-file search engine that automatically index files/ mails. I asked if they performed document-housekeeping and answer was no.

All RP classrooms have wireless projectors (more efficient when you consider each PBL lesson involves multiple group presentations; no need to swap physical cables). They encourage use of MSN and Skype as communication platforms within campus.

RP has three separate data centres. Two are on site (but on different location within the campus) and one is offsite from campus.

On sustaining RP's IT culture: Any staff who joins RP (including temporary facilitators) are given a three-hour hands-on IT training on the very first day. Then there are weekly IT workshops (for staff and students. The campus has an onsite helpdesk and a network and application support team.

Each classroom and various strategic locations have web-cams installed. The cams can be accessed via their Intranet.

RP uses MS Access to enable staff to generate their reports on demand. They customise a MS Access program that allows users to link to separate divisional databases (to facilitate greater inter-divisional sharing of data). They conduct regular training sessions for their users to be able to generate MS Access queries and be able to generate reports on demand.

Because of the high importance for tests and exams, for this part RP opted for client-based applications rather than web-based. Client software (developed in-house) are installed on all student and staff laptops. Students would access and complete their tests via the client software.

During tests periods, access to the Internet is blocked (they don't want students to chat with their friends for answers, it seems).

Here's a demonstration of a system they call LEO, for "Learning Environment Online". The system is used by staff and students for time-tabling, class assignments, to access their discussion forums, quizzes, grading and surveys (more about LEO, here).

Academic staff are able to access students' Reflective Journal entries, and also assign grades.

I asked Mr. Yow if they faced situations where there were unauthorised account access/ identity theft among students.

Mr. Yow explained all accounts were required to have their passwords changed every two weeks. Also, students are able to report any issues to the IT support staff immediately. He said those measures helped to reduce the problems.

I inferred that there would be cases of unauthorised access and account break-ins (I suspect due to carelessness by users, i.e. leaving their passwords in plain sight). Inevitable, I suppose.

(Twitter hashtag #pbl09w)

[Next: Part 7]

PBL Symposium (Part 5): Quick walkabout in Republic Polytechnic

2009-06-11T23:33:00.007+08:00

[From Part 4]

Day-2.

A guided-walkabout of the campus just before we broke for lunch.

Impressive place.

I'd have loved to study there.

We didn't get to tour the library though. Though I learned that the RP library is open to public as well (I saw kids in the library!)

An academic library that is accessible like a public library. That's innovation.

Pictures from the walkabout:

(Twitter hashtag #pbl09w)

[Next: Part 6]

PBL Symposium (Part 4): Paper presentations on "Assessment"

2009-06-11T22:56:00.003+08:00

[From Part 3]

Day-2, 11 Jun 09.

i) Presenter Dr. P'ng Tean Hwa (co-author Irene Tan Ai Lian). UCSI University, Malaysia. "Assessing Learning through Reflective Essays in Music Education"

Quick notes (italics are mine):
P'ng says using "teacher-centered" approach was limited. Traditional teaching approach couldn't convey all he wanted to cover and students not prepared to grasp some concepts. When PBL implemented, curriculum had to change including assessment methods.

Students asked to write reflective essays as part of Summative assessment. Sets three problems for semester. Majority are Piano-majors.

Found that with PBL his intro course students progressed beyond level 3 of Bloom's Taxonomy, i.e. L3 =Application, to Analysis and even Synthesis.

Students were initially apprehensive with PBL approach (they were more familiar with lectures and performance). Definitely unfamiliar with student-led approach.

P'ng acknowledged there were problems with PBL approach. E.g. Student skepticism and prior baggage re poor team work and peer conflict. But says he decided to pre-empt the students concerns by explaining the PBL approach.

(Seems to me success of PBL depends largely on intelligent application by educator. Attitude of educator more than tool)

My Tweets:

P'ng: found with PBL, his intro course students could progress beyond L3 of Bloom's Taxonomy. Assessed via reflective essays.

with PBL, P'ng found he's also posing deeper questions to students. Students (piano majors) forced to be more precise in thinking

prob w PBL: student skepticism & previous bad experience re teamwork and peer conflict. P'ng preempts by explaining PBL approach

BTW, I discovered this site by a hearing-impaired music student of Dr. P'ng.

ii) Loretta Ho Man Wah. The University of Hong Kong. "Maximize the Effects of Problem-based Learning through Aligning the Curriculum with On-going and Multidimensional Assessment"

[Various types of assessment tools HKU used in their PBL approach. Which is still an on-going research as of the presentation]

iii) Dr. Chan Kam Chi, Purdue University North Central, USA. "Learning about Teaching: A Student Teacher’s Emotions in The Journey of Growth".

A fascinating account by Dr. Chan of her trainee-teacher's emotional words expressed as reflections, submitted as part of a PBL assessment.

The gist of it: The 40+ trainee-teacher described how she fell into a depressed state from having to deal with a very challenging class. After much urging, she finally decided to hold a class meeting and confront the situation. The trainee-teacher got to a point in her script where she broke down and cried. Apparently by showing her emotions, the class responded to her and paid attention for the first time.

Dr. Chan asked if emotion could -- and should -- be assessed as part of PBL. Whether there was a need to look at another dimension of PBL assessment.

Dr. Chan's research question came from that particular case of her trainee-teacher. Initially, Dr. Chan required her trainee-teachers to submit a Reflection-journal that was quite standard in format.

But soon it became apparent that particular trainee-teacher became withdrawn. Yet the reflective journal merely recorded what was done but obviously not reflecting the trainee-teacher's emotive state. Dr. Chan asked her trainee-teacher to abandon the required format and simply express how she truly felt.

BTW the trainee teacher won an outstanding future teacher award in the end, for turning the class around.

Dr. Chan argues that assessing student-learning may require assessment of student emotions.

(Twitter hashtag #pbl09w)

[Next: Part 5]

PBL Symposium (Part 3): "‘Learning about Learning’ – a Conundrum and a Possible Resolution"

2009-06-11T22:36:00.004+08:00

[From Part 2]

Day-2, 11 Jun 09.

Prof Ronald Barnett, Institute of Education, University of London, UK: ‘Learning about Learning’ – a Conundrum and a Possible Resolution.

"It's not clear what Learning is leading to (in today's world)".

Brief notes (italics are mine):

Suggests learning has gone through four stages:

Metaphysical (meta-reality/ describe the real world?)
Empirical (move away from subjectivity to organised scientific knowledge)
Learning from Experience (learn to keep up with the world; search for 'transferable skills'; new terms: workplace learning, action learning, learning on the job)
Learning-amid-contestation (a world of supercomplexity; competing frameworks; learning seems to be a case of unlearning).

Common across all stages is the question "what counts as effective learning?"

Looking ahead, he suggests: a will to learn, a will to encounter strangeness, a will to engage, preparedness to change.

Suggests learning may lead to inaction.

Forms of learning should inspire students with new energies to keep going, come what may.

As "active and radical doubt", Learning has to doubt itself but should find within itself yet new resources for continuing forward.

My Tweets:

Q&A: participant queries Barnett why he'd suggested learning may lead to paralysis

Barnett qualifies his point was metaphorical; that educators should inspire and give students the confidence to go fwd

Barnett: the role of Higher Education is to equip students with personal skills to effect positive changes to problems

question to Barnett: what do u mean "the more we learn the less we know". Barnett clarifies he's differentiating Learning Vs Knowing

(Twitter hashtag #pbl09w)

[Next: Part 4]

PBL Symposium (Part 2): "What do we know about PBL? Current & future prospects"

2009-06-10T22:19:00.005+08:00

[From Part 1]

10 Jun 09 - Keynote speaker A/P Cindy Hmelo-Silver from Rutgers University: What do we know about Problem-based Learning (PBL)? Current & future prospects

Quick notes (italics are mine):
Key PBL components: Problem, Facilitation, Collaboration, Reflection.

Problems should be something learners can identify with (I think "stranded in school" is better than "stranded on Mars").

Good 'Problems', in the context of educators setting Problem scenarios, are "complex, ill-structured, open-ended".

Some strategies for facilitators e.g wandering facilitator; assign roles to students (hmm... like De Bono's Six Thinking Hats?)

Current status: Despite wide use, there's limited evidence-base. Research mostly in areas of medicine.

Research suggests not all students respond to collaborations well. Quality of collaboration improves over time.

(Implication for librarians who work with teens: Don't expect initial success when working with groups of teams. Of course, the question is how librarians can manage expectations when grouping teens from different backgrounds to work together. And how should Youth Librarians plan ahead if knowing that initial outcomes of group work may not be necessarily positive?)

Gaps in PBL:

incomplete descriptions of PBL models;
need to look outside medical education (because medical students already highly motivated);
assessment;
need a common language.

Cindy mentioned the Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-based Learning (see ijpbl.org)

(Twitter hashtag #pbl09w)

[Next: Part 3]

PBL Symposium, Republic Polytechnic (Part 1): Day 1

2009-06-10T22:04:00.007+08:00

I'd like to think that the future of librarianship isn't for librarians to attend only library-related conferences, but to step outside of our industry into other related ones.

Which is why I signed up for this conference:

Just ended Day-1 of the three-day symposium, held at Republic Polytechnic. I didn't have any specific expectations of the symposium. My main aim was to get some insights on Problem Based Learning (PBL). To get a feel of the trends and what educators are thinking/ doing.

When I attended RICE 2008, I'd heard PBL (or its equivalent) mentioned a few times. That got me wondering how public libraries can be part of the equation.

PBL isn't directly related to public libraries. But seems to me there's potential. Not necessarily in the form employed in schools today.

One of the speakers today, Dr. Mark A. Serva, cited this Wikipedia entry when he mentioned PBL. Incidentally, the Wikipedia entry cites a few of the references and citations I'd heard from Day-1.

Here are my Tweets from Day-1, in sequential chronological order (Twitter hashtag #pbl09w):

MOE perm sec says: Polytechnics in SG takes in 40% of student cohort.

key PBL components: Problem, Facilitation, Collaboration, Reflection

keynote speaker: despite wide use, PBL has limited evidence base. Mixed results.

I'm thinking: if measures of PBL are not 100% conclusive, what then to devise new ways to measure impact of libraries & reading?

from my layman understanding of PBL, the key may be the facilitator rather than method (PBL).

now attending workshop on "assessing student learning". Am interested in applying to library context.

"assessment (i.e. feedback), rather than teaching, has a major influence on students' learning"

suggestion that educators prefer to teach than assess. Conversely students want to know how they fare rather than learn

"assess" is from latin "assidere", i.e "to sit with".

trainer: "learning objectives were only introduced in 2001 in my uni. Yours?". Participant:"we've had them but no one verifies"

my take from this workshop: even educators are asking if their assessment methods are valid or the best.

seems there's no one best assessment method. Depends on what's practical, logical, acceptable (by parents/ students/ mgt)

it occurred to me my conference Tweets are a way to assess speaker & also my learning. So... Give students Twitter?

"a good assessment protects privacy and dignity of those being assessed"

hawk & hill (2001) if you are giving grades, students don't care for comments. hmm.

strategy of "union of insufficiencies" of assessment methods. a variety of assessment methods help give better picture.

Now listening to Mark A. Serva "holistic view of student learning: moving beyond pedagogy

dr. mark Serva "the goal is Learning, not Teaching... MacDonalds' goal isn't to make hamburgers; it's to make ppl happy"

dr. Serva: "integration of writing is critical for learning". He hopes to get students to write their textbook.

Formative Assessment aims to give feedback to student for chance to improve. Not just Summative Assessment

ooh, I'm at this workshop where there's a quietly hostile participant! Challenging the speaker.

Recurrent theme: each assessment method has strength & weakness. Strategy is to use various methods to assess diff aspects.

suggestion that educators should ultimately make professional judgement on student, & not just rely on assessment tools only

idea that educators can subjectively judge student performance but justify w evidence from various assessments (sounds like real world staff appraisals!)

[Next: Part 2]

Google Wave: possibilities for librarians

2009-05-29T21:20:00.005+08:00

Thanks to Ben for alerting me to Google Wave - wave.google.com.

It led me to the Google Wave developer preview presentation at the Day 2 Keynote of Google I/O (it's 1 hr 20mins long).

LINK

"What might email be like if it was invented today?" (5min 30sec).
Google Wave is Google's response to that question.

At first I didn't get what Google Wave was about. How would it be different from email? Or current wikis, photo and video sharing platforms?

What's the difference between this model of communication...

[screenshot at 6min 10sec]

... and this one?

[screenshot at 6min 30sec]

About 15 mins into the video, I began to glimpse of possibilities. From an end-user view point. Particularly as a librarian/ information professional.

As a librarian, the Google Wave demo shows how it could transform the way we provide Enquiry and Advisory services. Or how we research, collaborate and publish documents.

I began to understand how email conversations could be expanded into a collaborative documents (this much was mentioned by the presenter). Because Google is making this open-source and encouraging developers to build apps, future collaboration could take place across different platforms.

POSSIBILITIES & IMPLICATIONS
Based on my watching the video, the implications seem to be that:

Libraries don't have to force users to learn how to use our systems just to collaborate with them.
It was clear from the demo that the Google Wave technology will speed up communications.
There are also hints that we may need to learn new ways of collaboration. And also to be able to shift our mental models.

COLLABORATION
The collaborative feature was immediately apparent. From this initial message...

[8min 30sec]

... more users can be included by dragging their profiles/ avatars to the conversation:

There can be discussions within the larger email. Visually, it's much clearer what the side-discussions are about:

[10min 12sec]

EFFICIENCY
Things began to look really interesting when they showed the character-by-character "live" transmission of instant messages!

[10min 45sec]

Although I'm not a developer, I could appreciate the complexities that had to be overcome for instantaneous character-by-character transmission.

Current IM systems tell you the other party is typing a message. You don't see the full message until the user hits "send". The Google Wave developers felt that half of the time in IM is wasted just waiting for messages to be completed. Hence, the character-by-character transmission. Which can be disabled.

PLAYBACK/ CONTEXT
Google Wave allows more participants to be added to the conversation. The Playback feature allows new participants to play, from the very start, how the conversation has developed up to that point.

[13min 10sec]
It's like an automated "See History" of edits and conversations. One could view the original and subsequent messages as if you were already clued into the conversation in the first place. Much more efficient than searching for text archives (which may not be available to new participants in an email setting.

INTEGRATION
21 min 24sec: Integration of Google Wave conversations to blogs:

[29min 20sec]

"LIVE" CONCURRENT EDITING
At the 35min mark, the demo on "Live" concurrent editing (up to five people during the demo). What's impressive is that the edits could be seen instantaneously, character-by-character.

ORGANISING CONVERSATIONS/ DOCUMENTS
One can create links to other Wave conversations. I's a really clean and visual way to organise/ archive conversations and provide context:

[40min 50sec]

COOL GADGETRY POSSIBILITIES
45min - a spell-checker that takes the context into consideration when recommending words (aka "bean soup demo").

Impressive spell checker functionality. It was able to recommend words based on context (e.g. Bean Soup Vs Been so long). Would be a boon for people with disabilities trying to articulate thoughts on email.

47min: adding images and URL links. Would be a boon to formulating responses to enquiries.

48min - demo of the APIs etc.

Another extension/ gadget was something that allowed collaboration on maps:

[53min 45sec]

55min: an extension that creates forms. e.g. surveys, polls

57min: integration with platforms like Twitter; "Twave" = a wave of tweets:

1hr mark: Demo of a code bug filing extension. The extension allowed a more flexible and efficient way for tracking code issues. You can file parts of the documents and/ or assign to collaborators (imagine if this was how enquiries are fulfilled):

1hr 06mins: Presenter Lars said any organisation can build their own Wave system, even in competition with Google, and the protocol will allow Waves to be shared.

Accounts on different wave systems can work together (one possibility is that librarians can invite, or be invitees, to collaborative enquiries/ projects).

1hr 05min: Presenter Stephanie explains how private messages remains on private servers; Google won't have access to it.

1hr 12min: Translation robot.

Collaboration with people who don't necessarily speak the first language. Yet another possibility for information services.

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN FOR LIBRARIANS?
Speed and efficiency: that's what I gather from this Google Wave model of conversation and collaboration. It's a recurrent theme throughout the demo.

On the downside, speed and efficiency may also mean more noise and possibly more wastage. Just because you can do a lot of things doesn't mean you're efficient.

For some people, they will find that time will even be more compressed time. Not everyone might be able to adopt the same speed of processing information and collaboration.

NEW LIBRARY SERVICE PROTOCOLS
Before the Google Wave hits, I think librarians have to anticipate and develop new service protocols.

For example, we will need to shift from the current default of one-librarian per enquiry to a model involving many librarians per enquiry. A true team effort when responding to enquiries. Librarians can handle enquiries like how a team of surgeons/ medical staff operate on a patient.

Someone to input a response, someone to verify information, one to edit, one to phrase, one to check for grammar. one to look for images, another for videos, or electronic databases.

Not all enquiries need to be handled that way. It's just like how some patients can be handled by one doctor while some cases require many specialists.

UNLEARN
"Using modern tools... changes your thinking" (39min) - Lars

Google Wave and a proliferation of 3rd party gadgets may mean a lot more discovery and experimentation. We'd have to be able to unlearn and adapt quickly.

49 min: Presenter said it took a while for them to discover how to use the tool and work in different ways. Like how they first replied to a RSVP list with sequential messages. Then someone suggested editing the initial message like a Wiki to indicate who's going and who's not.

[50min]

Later, one team member developed a code to make indicating RSVP list more efficient:

SLOW DOWN!
Efficiency is well and fine, but speed can be a distraction. Users need to take a breather, look at what's been edited before sending.

43min - Lars said they found that the speed was also a distraction. It drew people to unfinished work. So they are trying to find a balance.

OVER-RELIANCE
I've also a nagging feeling that the more powerful and efficient the feature, the more reliant we become on them. Which may not be a good thing.

Take for instance the automated dictionaries and spelling checks. Chances are we won't make ourselves learn how to spell properly (why should we, when the automated feature is more dependable?).

Would we find our ability diminished when these tools aren't available?

THE COMING WAVE
I consider myself a non-digital native. Perhaps it's not an exaggeration to say the Google Wave demo is a sign of a coming digital tsunami.

We can surf the wave or go under.

Seems to me if librarians want to be ready for the coming wave, we need to develop new skills for processing information and conversations at a faster rate. Because that seems to be the trend.

The other implication is that digital preservation will be even more critical. Imagine all the collaborative efforts gone when the server crashes. Or power fails.

WHAT'S GOOGLE WAVE AGAIN?
From the Google Wave About page:

Google Wave is a new model for communication and collaboration on the web, coming later this year.

What is a wave?
A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.

A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.

Email. Instant messaging. Share photos and links. Integrate blogging sites, discussion groups. Incorporate wikis. Being open-sourced, developers can build their own apps.

Now I understand better the difference between these two models shown in the demo:

Perhaps a simple way to understand Google Wave is this: it's built upon the privacy of current email systems and allows it to become more inclusive and collaborative, and more efficient.

Pretty exciting stuff.

Aside: When I viewed the Youtube video this morning, it had about 340 views. When I caught the rest of the video in the evening about 10 hours later, it had jumped to more than 65,000 views.

READ! Singapore 2009

2009-05-22T20:24:00.000+08:00

It's back!

The annual reading initiative was launched by the NLB on Friday morning, 22 May 09, at the Conrad Hotel (the hotel is one of the main sponsors):

From the NLB press release, 22 May 09

Exciting New Initiatives To Reach Out To Families And Youths Through READ! Singapore 2009
Release Date : 22 May 2009
The iconic event returns with a series of new activities and book discussions to enhance the reading experience of Singaporeans
Highlights include the inaugural “Youth Writers Awards Asia 2010” and 144-hour Reading Marathon

SINGAPORE, 22 May 2009 – The National Library Board (NLB) today officially launched READ! Singapore 2009, the iconic nationwide reading initiative that aims to promote a culture of reading fiction among Singaporeans. In its fifth year, READ! Singapore is aptly themed “Dreams and Choices” to encourage Singaporeans to stay focused on their goals during these challenging times.

In line with the theme, the READ! Singapore Steering Committee has selected eight novels and eight short stories in the four official languages, written by well-known local and international authors. The selected novels and short stories explore the choices made by the characters in their journey to fulfil their dreams. Each of the short stories is translated into the other three languages and compiled into four anthologies to encourage Singaporeans to read across cultures and communities.

From 22 May to 31 August this year, Singaporeans can look forward to a host of exciting reading activities at various locations islandwide. For the first time, READ! Singapore will hold a Singapore record-setting event with a 144-hour Reading Marathon. Participants will form teams of not more than 12 members to read the selected READ! Singapore literary works or other stories of their choice for a continuous period of six hours per team. After completing six hours, each team will pass the baton to the next team to continue the reading marathon. The event will run from 3 to 9 July at The Plaza, National Library Building.

Additionally, READ! Singapore is reaching out to youths in the region with the inaugural “Youth Writers Awards Asia 2010”. Organised in partnership with Reader's Digest, this short story writing competition is held in celebration of Singapore hosting the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games. Youths aged 13 to 17 years can participate by submitting short stories on the theme, “Dare to Dream: Stories of Imagination, Passion and Sporting Excellence”. Winning entries will be selected and published in a book to be distributed to athletes during the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore next year as part of the national effort to promote sporting excellence.

“Through READ! Singapore, we hope to reach out to not only Singaporeans, and also youths in the region to build bonds through a shared love for reading. READ! Singapore can be a platform to inspire all Singaporeans to reflect on their priorities in life, explore new horizons and work towards their dreams,” said Ms Ngian Lek Choh, Deputy Chief Executive, NLB.

The selected short stories have also been produced into audio books for Singaporeans who are not able to experience the joy of reading a book due to age, illiteracy or handicap, to participate in the READ! Singapore book discussions. The audio books feature forewords by RAdm (NS) Lui Tuck Yew, Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, in English; Mr Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Manpower, in Chinese; Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, in Malay; and Mr S Iswaran, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, and Education, in Tamil. The short stories are narrated by popular media personalities from local radio stations including 938LIVE, Capital 95.8FM, Warna 94.2FM and Oli 96.8FM.

3,000 copies of audio books in the four languages will be distributed to voluntary welfare organisations such as the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped and Sunshine Welfare Action Mission Home.

For more information on READ! Singapore 2009, please visit: http://readsingapore.nlb.gov.sg/

Sharedcopy

Aardvark (or "Is Social Search the future for the library information/ reference service?")

2009-05-15T00:18:00.009+08:00

Fellow colleague and liblogarian, Aaron Tan, blogged about this new social search service called Aardvark (vark.com).

A few weeks ago, Aaron emailed me an invite. I took it up but only after he followed up by speaking to me face to face (I've a point to make about this, at the end of the post).

WHAT THE VARK?
Aardvark works like this: You send a question and it finds someone who can answer. Or it will send you questions that you've told Aardvark you'd like to try answering.

The service isn't an Expert System. It doesn't answer your question but would try to find another member in its network who might be able to.

Signing up was a breeze. The set-up was systematic and intuitive.

A 20-second demo was enough to get one started (to the librarians out there, this is not to say 20 seconds was enough to educate potential librarians on the art of questioning and the Reference Interview... I wish it were that easy too!)

Basically, I specify the type of questions/ topics I'm most comfortable answering.

Then I tell Aardvark whether I'd like to talk to Aardvark via email or chat, or both (by "talk", it means how I wish Aardvark to send questions for me to answer, and how I'd like to send my own questions to Aardvark).

At the Aardvark dashboard, I can access the questions I've asked and also those I've answered. So far, my questions have not been answered. I've a choice whether to resubmit

It's unclear to me how continuous and proactive is Aardvark in attempting to match my questions with people who might be able to answer. Or how questions are queued and given priority.

Seems that there's a certain time frame that Aardvark will attempt the match, after which my question would be put on my History page. I have the option of resubmitting. In that sense, I guess my question is considered "closed". Aardvark might want to provide a "Remove my question" option there.

AARDVARK IN ACTION
When I log in to my Gmail account, I can see Aardvark as one of my contact.

To interact with Aardvark, I send a text command, like IRC (do people still do IRC now?)

This is one example of how questions are sent my way (in this case, I'd "pass"):

Here's what happens when I send a question to Aardvark. I asked, "Why is the sky blue?"

I was impressed that Aardvark prompted me for more details to my question. I can see how that would help the person who might potentially answer my question.

In this case, I didn't elaborate. Aardvark acknowledges my input and assigns it a subject (it must have drawn from its thesaurus or something).

A few minutes later, I received a response from someone whose profile indicated that he was in Sweden. His reply was, "Because it looks a lot better than yellow". Heh.

And very shortly after that, I received a better reply (this time I chose to look at the reply via the Vark dashboard):

From my dashboard, I can also rate the quality/ appropriateness of the reply. Or flag inappropriate responses. Aardvark also allows me to look at the profile (as much details as they choose to reveal) of those who've answered my question.

MY QUICK ASSESSMENT OF AARDVARK
Many aspects of Aardvark impresses me.

It's intuitive and simple to use. Usability and system functionality are excellent -- the ease of setup, how quickly I was able to familiarise myself with the dashboard, how I'm able to track the questions I've asked and also the answers I've received, the level of interactivity between the system and myself (and indirectly with other users).

It's clearly very accessible (the service is just an email and chat away).

Aardvark's developers have clearly considered the user experience. I've no doubt I'm interacting with a machine. Vark doesn't pretend to be more than what it's not. Still, I'm feel I'm treated as an individual and that my question is important. There's an approriate amount of feedback and responses are timely.

What is less certain is the quality of answers. Case in point: the responses to my "why is the sky blue" question.

The first response was clearly a joke. The second response was much better but what it lacked was the citation (this is my librarian training kicking in -- we're taught to always provide the source, so that users can also verify the information themselves).

IMPLICATIONS FOR LIBRARY REFERENCE SERVICE CONCEPT
It's easy to adopt the system feature of Aardvark, but I'd suggest what is impressive about aardvark isn't its system features but its idea of utilising social network to fulfil an information need.

More important, Aardvark respresents a paradigm shift in where we librarians see ourselves in the user's information search process.

Librarians often treat a question as "completed" when we have sent off the reply. We see ourselves as the final stop in the user's information search. But looking at Aardvark, it is clear that one individual's reply is but one facet of the many responses the information seeker could potentially receive.

Which means, librarians have to see ourselves as merely participants in the users' information search and NOT a "one-stop" or "only-stop".

To put it bluntly, it's time to step down from the professional pedestal.

Aardvark forces us librarians to see that the user ultimately assesses the answer based on its relevance and not primarly WHO provides the answer.

I've heard fellow colleagues tout that the information services provided by librarians are superior because of our training and expertise. I'd humbly suggest those aren't selling points that users can relate to. To put it bluntly, users don't care about your credentials as much as the answers they can get immediately and whether they find the information relevant.

WILL AARDVARK SPELL THE DOOM FOR REFERENCE SERVICES IN LIBRARIES?
My snappy answer is 'No'.

At one level, this is an excellent wake-up call for librarians. An impetus to reassess the way we deliver reference and reader-advisory services. We librarians can see Aardvark as a competitor and we'd better react to it.

When I say "competitor", I mean a friendly one. There's no need to treat Aardvark as an adversary. I'd take it as a benchmark and a model to re-think our service.

Two, I see a service like Aardvark as something that would raise the overall awareness of Information and Reference Services among the library potential customers. For example, a person might not have used the library or any information service before Aardvark. If librarians time it right and leverage on heightened awareness, it serves as a way to promote our service.

Three, librarians should see Aardvark as a space where we become community members and participants. If we establish our credentials, as those who consistently provide answers which other community member rate highly, then I'm confident people might turn to us directly.

Aardvark might be a chance for librarians to reinforce our Brand. E.g. we'd never give a frivilous answer to "why the sky is blue".

Four, librarians (who have the competencies and passion) would automatically have an advantage over most users in terms of professional standards. I don't mean librarians neccessarily "provide better information". What I mean is the way librarians (in general) are trained to provide citations, verify and triangulate sources etc.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
In Aaron's post, he wrote: "Like it or not, librarians are not the first people [others] think about whenever [they] need to know something".

I feel we have to accept that as a permanent reality.

To any librarian who does not believe and accept that reality, I'll ask them this: When you have a question on what to eat for lunch or where to visit during your vacation, do you ask a friend or a stranger?

I'll go back to my earlier point, about how I tried out Aardvark only after Aaron spoke to me face to face. I'd left his email invite sitting in my email in-box for days. It was only after he explained how it works and said "You have to try it" that I decided to do so.

I'm not suggesting librarians try to be friends with everyone. We can't.

What I'm saying is that the way to go is for librarians to be part of people's social networks. Granted, critics will say this isn't scalable but I'd argue we're not giving up the in-library service.

It's about extending our reach.

Having one finger out there -- being a friend to one person in the community -- is better than none at all.

[Update 16 May 09: If you wish to try out Aardvark, leave a comment with your email or email me, indicating three topics you see yourself answering. I'll send you an invite. As of this post, Aardvark is 'by invite' only].

Perspectives

2009-05-13T01:00:00.003+08:00

Great storytelling doesn't require fancy animation, video or soundtrack.

Enuff said.

[For a larger view of the video, click here]

The creator of the video was inspired by this one.

Thoughts from the New Media Seminar 2009 (for the Singapore civil service)

2009-05-06T21:24:00.009+08:00

Yesterday I attended the New Media Seminar organised by the Civil Service College. I was there to speak, as a representative of my employer the NLB, to share learning points from NLB's new media initiatives.

[Photo courtesy of @victortan]

(BTW you won't see NLB listed, as we were left out of the programme list for some reason).

Link | Sharedcopy

Before I began my presentation, I said "If I exceed my 30mins, feel free to tell me to Shut Up And Sit Down". I think only half the room got the joke. Ah well...

REACH_Singapore & TWITTER
I got to listen to the other speakers and presentation while I waited for my turn to speak.

During the presentation by REACH, on Why and How they use new media for e-engagement, I thought: What does Engagement mean? And how would REACH define it?

So I tweeted this to their twitter account:

"@REACH_Singapore - nice overview of ur new media efforts @ MICA new media seminar. Question: how do u define Engagement? Thks!"

They responded today. It was a lengthy response, as far as Tweets go. Four separate tweets (the URLs are listed here):

I was quite sure they'd respond to my tweet, for they'd responded to this earlier tweet from me some time ago. Nonetheless, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a reply this time round.

Maybe I needed to be convinced that it wasn't a fluke the first time, LOL.

My session TWEETS
Here are some of my tweets during the session (thanks to the free Wireless@SG). I've left out some of the tweet-responses and re-tweets by twitters who were following me (it was pretty cool to see that sort of "indirect active participation" by the non-participants!).

Oh, at that time I didn't think I'd need a hash-tag but I now realise for easy of reference, I should use one next time:

listening to REACH presentation. Why and how they use new media. I've a question: "what does Engagement mean?" [link]
think aloud: if engagement means dialogue, REACH has done well. Wrt citizens' views shaping govt policies, I think REACH has done that too. [link]
think aloud: the challenge wrt "engagement" is about expectations. Esp. by person giving feedback. Receiving feedback is also an artform [link]
listening to kew soon from MICA. he points out blogs appeared in 1999 and are still around 10 yrs later, and growing. [link]
good presentation by MICA new media unit officer, on overview of FB. I feel MICA could do a public talk @ public libraries on FB! [link]
MICA officer giving talk on "deconstructing wikipedia". could mention RSS updates but good overview. Again, should do public talk! [link]
Think aloud: govt agencies should keep track of wikipedia entry of public info. ensure public info is factual and consistent. [link]
Learned something new. Starhub is on Twitter: @starhubcares [link]
presenter says he didn't need to be @ AWARE EGM to know what's going on. He read Tweets. I'd caution info needs to be triangulated. [link]
listening 2 talk on new media use @ 2008 US presidential elections. Think aloud: new media helps get word out but ur word gotta make sense [link]
thinking aloud: to me, new media engagement by public service = 80% Listening +20% Responding. [link]
think aloud: in a crisis, silence (from the authorities) is definitely not golden. New media will amplify trust or distrust. [link]
mentioned in sichuan quake case study - http://www.512help.com (www.512help.com) [link]
think aloud: in a crisis, empowerment of potential citizen reporters is better strategy than trying to manage noise & misinformation [link]
contrast of PRC gov & Obama's reaction to online criticisms. Former arrested ppl; latter countered w better information [link]
@motorman says: a key diff for SYOG is the equal emphasis on sports and culture. Not merely win or lose but cultural diplomacy. I like that! [link]
video @ http://whyohgee.sg has teen saying "the site is confusing... I like it" LOL [link]
Julian aka @motorman mentions partnership with NLB ask! Service at http://whyohgee.sg site. [link]
SYOG features educational vids like how doping tests are carried out. Wonder if it's on youtube? [link]
SYOG vid: "are you prepared for ur doping test?"; "yes. Urine". LOL [link]
Listening to NDP organisers on their thoughts on how to apply new media to NDP [link]
NDP ex-co sees new media for content that can't go on to MSM. E.g. What soldiers feel about National Day (no voice to be left out) [link]
BG Tan asks if getting controversial blogger would legitimize him/ her. I feel reverse also true: Blogger will help legitimize NDP w reader! [link]
this is new to me http://www.hpb.gov.sg/chipp [link]
the earlier HPB site earned me dirty looks. The site loaded on my mobile. Started playing music. Ppl think my phone went off. Darn [link]
HPB doesn't stop at websites. They conduct surveys as well. They'd like their users "to be a source of their information" [link]
weng keong says SPF approach to new media is "open and pragmatic". Aware they have to mitigate risks of using new media [link]
fact: 4 in 10 arrests are public-assisted. SPF sees new media as a natural extension of community partnership [link]
SPF youtube channel partly a response to provide authenticated SPF videos [link]
SPF provides a sms service for Deaf/ speech impaired persons to contact the police. Wow, I didn't know that [link]
SPF allows comments for their new media platforms. Says to not do so is to run counter to web 2.0 spirit [link]
think aloud: SPF going into new media (w/o controversy) says a lot about the level of trust citizens have in SPF [link]
SPF FB page has fans from outside SG. proves that internet is a global audience, not just local [link]
best quote frm MICA new media seminar. SPF said "we experiment w NM in peace time so that we learn how to use it effectively in a crisis" [link]

FINAL THOUGHTS
At the end of the one-day seminar, I felt upbeat about the Singapore Civil Service efforts to embrace new media.

In truth, I was skeptical about the seminar when I learned about it. I thought it would be yet another surface-level attempt at show-and-tell and nothing more.

But from the speeches by the Head Civil Service and the Permanent Secretary, and hearing first-hand the thinking behind the other agencies' new media efforts, I walked away convinced that the Singapore Civil Service is serious about using New Media for e-engagement.

It's not a "let's join the bandwagon" mentality, for sure. It's also not lip service either.

Lest the pessimists think this amounts to some nefarious attempt by the civil service to control new media space, I can only say that I didn't sense that.

During the final panel session, there was a discussion about e-engagement policies. I won't report what was said exactly (I'd like to approach this cautiously, heh).

But I'll share my personal view wrt the civil service and e-engagement (see item 22, here): the civil service's willingness to adapt, and harmoniously evolve, is a lot more optimistic that what might be generally perceived.

I'm convinced the Singapore Civil Service in general, is beginning to get New Media.

To quote one senior civil servant, "this (seminar) is not the end but the start of a conversation".

Personal rules for managing 'noise' during crisis situations

2009-05-01T09:44:00.008+08:00

NOTICE: This commentary mentions the H1N1 outbreak but it is not an update of the crisis per se. You should treat this post as potential 'noise' by default.

First, let me say there's a Charity Fun Day 2009 organised by the Assisi Hospice. It's tomorrow, 2 May 2009. Some precautions have been taken because of the H1N1 outbreak (e.g. advisory to stall participants on who should stay home; and agreement to be subjected to temperature-taking). See also, Otterman's post here.

Link | sharedcopy

INFORMATION or NOISE?
I was reflecting on recent developments about the Swine Flu, now officially called influenza A(H1N1) by the World Health Organisation.

My friend Walter wrote in his blog that "a major global crisis like Swine Flu appear to be more talked about and discussed in mainstream rather than social media." He contrasted it with the much noiser and emotional discussions about these two Dominoes Pizza workers who were charged with food tampering.

Then another friend, Kevin, shared this Wired Magazine article by Clive Thompson, on How More Info Leads to Less Knowledge.

After years of celebrating the information revolution, we need to focus on the countervailing force: The disinformation revolution.

In relating Clive Thompson's article to the H1N1 crisis, I don't think people who blog about the crisis (or Tweet or post in Facebook) are deliberately trying to create any disinformation. Of course, some might unwittingly do so if they phrase their opinions to sound like facts.

CREATING NOISE
I suspect some people may frown upon others posting/ blogging/ tweeting updates and comments on the developing crisis situation. The concern being that more noise would lead to panic.

But fact is that people will talk.

They need to.

If it's not blogs or Twitter or Facebook, it'll be at coffee shops, cafes, classrooms, office lounges, in the trains and on buses.

MANAGING NOISE
I don't claim to be the authority on this. This is just a sharing of what I subconsciously practice with regards to dealing with information about the current H1N1 outbreak.

Know the source of the information (i.e. are they official or unofficial)
Check with official sources
Make up my own mind. Trust myself

I'd prioritise my sources of information in this order:

Official Local sources - www.moh.gov.sg (Ministry of health, for health-specific information) and www.crisis.gov.sg (Singapore Government Crisis Website, for general crisis updates and local instructions)
Official International sources - www.who.int
My employer
Unofficial sources (Friends, Blogs etc.)

For health and crisis-reaction information, my preference is on local information before international. Obviously, local updates impact me in a more immediate manner.

My employer would also be an important source of information. Their rules and policies would dictate how employees have to act during times of crisis. In my case, it also dictates how we serve and what we communicate to the public during the affected period.

However, I'd still verify any health-related instructions, issued from my employer or internal committees, with first-hand official sources (i.e. Ministry of Health and the Singapore Government Crisis website). This isn't about not trusting my employer or colleagues. It's about not taking information for granted when it comes to public safety and interest.

Unofficial sources like blogs and word-of-mouth updates from friends are equally important. For the H1N1 situation, I'm often first alerted to official updates from Tweets Twitter and postings in email lists. Simply because I spend more time on those social networking sites (I don't know of anyone who'd stare at official sites minute-by-minute). The important thing is to verify these unofficial sources with offical ones.

EXERCISE RESPONSIBLE INFORMATION SHARING
As I mentioned earlier, most people would not deliberately create disinformation. If anyone feels that bloggers and Twitters are sources of confusion, I'd say they are missing the point.

What could be done is to encourage people to cite their information source. Mention where they obtained the information or provide a link. Let their readers/ listeners verify the information.

Public libraries and librarians could take a lead in this (you knew this line was coming, right? LOL)

LIFE GOES ON
Take Precautions. Stay informed. Stay alert. Life Goes On.

Rather than being worried about what is uncontrollable (the crisis itself, or information noise), the productive way might be to learn how to filter out the noise during times of crisis. Form our own independent and informed decisions.

Tomorrow I've volunteered to help my band buddy at the Assisi Hospice Charity Fun Day. Last year was my first experience with the event (Adrian blogged about it here; see also Siva's post). I was glad I was able to put whatever limited skills I had to good use. : )

I'm sure the H1N1 outbreak will mean fewer people turning up. That's reality. Besides, anyone with flu or fever, or not feeling well in general, should stay home and rest.

Depending on whether the H1N1 crisis escalates or not, there's a chance the event might be called off.

Until then, we'll plan as if things will go on. And be prepared if it doesn't.

[Update: This post from Siva is also worth reading. He reinforces the need to be a reliable source of information, and shares how he practices it].

QQ*librarian shares her "What is Britannica?" story

2009-04-30T01:36:00.000+08:00

Here's the lastest QQ*librarian story from her real-life front-desk experience:

She claimed she has tried Google, Wikipedia and everything (yes, Google and Wikipedia is equivalent to everything to this young reader) but to no avail.

Topic X appeared to me to be a possible entry that can be found in encyclopedias. So I directed her to the encyclopedia section, and told her to try the Encyclopedia Britannica, Americana and World Book.

She looked at me like I just spoke to her in French. Then she asked me "What Britannica?"

So it has come to this. The word "Encyclopedia Britannica" has become a technical jargon that the young generation no longer understands.

I brought her to the shelf and pointed to the encyclopedias. She stared at the shelf blankly for a minute, then turned and asked me, "how to use encyclopedia?"

LINK

If you enjoyed this one, you might want to check out the rest of her Librarian Tales.

Twitter Telepathy: Researchers Turn Thoughts Into Tweets

2009-04-26T21:36:00.003+08:00

[Reposted from sgLEAD]

From Wired, 20 Apr 09 (the article explains why Twitter works better than trying to get patients to email):

Early on the afternoon of April 1, Adam Wilson posted a message to Twitter. But instead of using his hands to type, the University of Wisconsin biomedical engineer used his brain. "USING EEG TO SEND TWEET," he thought.

... The researchers built upon the BCI2000, a software tool pioneered by Williams and Wadsworth Center neural injury specialist Gerwin Schalk. The software translates thought-induced changes in a scalp's electrical fields to control an on-screen cursor.

Williams described e-mail as a a relatively difficult and inefficient task for someone on a brain-computer interface.

"It's difficult enough to be able to spell words, much less find an address book and select names. The overhead involved in these applications is just too much," he said. "Twitter is very serendipitous. It handles all the things that we've been struggling to make easy for a patient to do. It puts messages where people can find them. Let the world know how you're doing, what you're thinking, and they'll find you. And that's perfect for these patients and their families."

LINK

YouTube video of the software in action, here:

Something that Singapore polytechnics or universities might want to try prototyping?

Thoughts about Creative Commons (CC) and CC adoption in Singapore

2009-04-23T22:55:00.002+08:00

An NUS student, Jackson Tan (referred to me by Giorgos), is collecting information about Creative Commons (CC) adoption in Singapore. Specifically, he's writing an article on the different factors affecting Creative Commons adoption in Singapore.

Jackson is interested in how cultural differences between Singapore and other jurisdictions affect adoption rates, and the types of licenses that are preferred.

The article that he'll be writing is part of CC-Monitor, a project to document the differences in CC adoption in different jurisdictions around the world. The CC-Monitor site is still under development. It aims to provide key statistics on CC adoption and will study the cultural factors that affect CC's adoption.

I checked with Jackson if I could blog my responses. He said OK, so here it is:

[DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed are my own; they do not necessarily represent the views of the CC-SG team]

---- START ----
What is your role in/ involvement with Creative Commons
I've been appointed as Community Manager for Creative Commons SG (background of how this came about, here; listed here). By "community manager", it's really about supporting the efforts for promoting CC, helping to manage the discussion list, acting as an additional contact point for anyone interested in CC and/ or CC-SG.

Who are the prominent team members of Creative Commons team in Singapore? If they hold specific roles in the team please specify.
I take "prominent" to mean those whom I can readily identify. Info can be found at:
http://creativecommonssingapore.wordpress.com/about/
http://creativecommons.org/international/sg/

These people in this photo could also be counted as team members, I suppose.

What were the team’s primary motivations and goals for adoption and promotion of creative commons in Singapore?
I can't answer for the team, as I wasn't involved at the start and I'm new to the team. My sense is that the CC SG team wants to promote a culture of sharing and ultimately help the creative movement in Singapore.

What are the key initiatives the team has taken so far (e.g., events organized) to promote the awareness and adoption of the creative commons licenses in your country?
I'd consider these as key initiatives (so far):

Launch/ announcement of the ported CC SG licenses
The creation of the CC-SG blog

There's on-going promotion and advocacy of CC at other events, like
the following:

Panel discussion, ISEA2008
Talk at a Creative Crew SG meeting
Presentation at HIP Parent Seminar

Please provide a list of advocates, institutions and firms who are the most prominent adopters or evangelists of CC licenses in your country so far.
The only government agency that's (somewhat) adopted CC is the National Heritage Board,
via it's Yesterday.sg website (see this post). I don't know any other institutions (govt or private) that have adopted CC.

There are more individuals who've adopted CC, and we've compiled a list, here.

I can count Giorgos as a prominent evangelist, since he gives public talks and is probably the only regular person doing it.

Are you aware of any local report or study on the use of CC licenses in your country?
No, although I think Giorgos' research area is on the CC movement in general.

Are you aware of information on pattern and volume of adoption of CC licenses across types of media in your country (text, photo, video, sound etc)?
Not in any accurate sense, no.

Do you have information on where the majority of CC licenses/ users in your country reside (where possible name specific digital archives, online communities, individual blogs, print/offline media)?
No. Apart from serendipitously discovering such adopters, I don't know
of any way to say, Google for CC-SG adopters.

What are the key factors driving the adoption of CC licenses in Singapore?
Adoption of CC in Singapore is relatively low. Awareness of CC isn't very high either. From the few CC Adopters whom I know in person, I'd say they do it because they personally believe that there's more to benefit by sharing it under CC than any potential losses or infringement of their copyright. So it's more of an intrinsic motivation.

What are the key challenges faced by local team in promoting awareness and adoption of CC licenses?
Again, I can't speak for the team. But personally, I feel the main challenge is that people are entrenched in the typical copyright model (i.e. seek permission first). Or they presume they understand copyright and that there is only one way to license content.

Second challenge is that even if they are made aware of CC, and even if they see relevance for what they do, they may hesitate because they don't see CC as "the law", unlike how they view Copyright. In a way, Copyright is perceived to be more legitimate because there are government sites like IPOS.gov.sg. You can find the Copyright Act in the Govt Statutes online. CC, on the other hand, isn't associated with "government" so I think that gives people the perception CC has a legitimate status.

A third challenge is that CC makes it easy for potential users to understand the terms of use but it may not be that clear-cut for adopters. There are aspects to CC that non-IP lawyers may find it hard to take a definitive position.

E.g. I know of a IT-professional who's knowledgeable in the general CC movement. He's also into photography but he has been cautious in adopting CC for the photos he shares online. He explained to me that his understanding is that once a particular CC license is adopted, there is no turning back. If he adopts a BY-NC license and then decide to go back to "All Rights Reserved", he feels that isn't logical. So he'd rather not adopt a CC for the time being unless he is absolutely sure that he does not ever intend to go back to a stricter license.

Fourth,it's hard to convince people how the benefits of sharing under CC exceeds the risk (of being exploited). People tend to understand risks better than they understand potential benefits.

Which license types do the majority of license adopters across the country so far seem to prefer?
My sense is that it's BY-NC (i.e. the "non-commercial" option). Very few adopt the BY only. In fact, I only know of only one example -- me! (ok, with my band mate, that makes two).

In your view, what are the key factors influencing license preferences among users in Singapore? (e.g.open source background/ public discourse on copyright/ pro-piracy background/ historical and cultural factors / politico- economic factors, etc).
I think it's "fear of being exploited" or "fear of losing the opportunity to make money". i.e. they might want to share, but prefer a "NC" license so that their work isn't used by a commercial company without paying them as creators.

In your view, to what extent and in what ways does the local CC team influence the license preferences of users?
Little to no influence at present.

In your view, what are the key challenges in promoting more liberal licensing (convincing users to share more openly) in the country?
Similar to what I answered in "What are the key challenges faced by local team in promoting awareness and adoption of CC licenses?"

How would you predict the future of CC license adoption in your country and its significance for the region?
I'm an optimist.

I predict that CC will have a place in Singapore. Adoption will be slow, but it will take form and shape steadily. It's relevance will only increase.

There are 3 main reasons for why I say this:

I feel the foundation for CC is an understanding of copyright and Intellectual Property. That seems to exist in Singapore.

The general awareness of the "Don'ts" of copyright is there, thanks to awareness talks by the efforts of IPOS, BSA, teachers in schools. I qualify that the level of understanding may not necessarily be correct ones (e.g. you have people saying "my idea is copyrighted", which is false as you cannot copyright an idea until you express it in tangible form). However, the general awareness is a foundation to understanding and contrasting CC.

Second, IT and internet is very much part of the Singapore lifestyle, i.e. work, school, leisure. There can only be an increase in those who are seeking usable content online. And also among those who wish to share their content online. Both trends for can only grow. CC will be highly relevant and useful to both groups.

Third, I think "creative output" will grow. There's government-initiated efforts to promote the Creative Industries. And there's also recognition of the value in being creative, e.g. schools and parents recognising the need to let the child be creative, and growing acceptance of creative and non-mainstream careers.

So when creative outputs increase (e.g. amateur art, photography, music) it's natural that much of the output will be shared online. If they see the relevance of CC, then adoption will increase as well.

How would you predict the future trend in pattern of license mix in your country?
I can't make any meaningful predictions other than saying Copyright definitely has it's place. As for Cc, there are those who will realise the relevance of adopting CC. There will be those who don't, or won't.

---- END ----

One Singapore librarian's quest to raise $200,000 for The Spastic Children's Association (part 2)

2009-04-22T03:23:00.003+08:00

[From Part 1]

A quote by Dennis Kweh, librarian:

I plan to travel 200km over 3 days (21-23 Apr09) within Singapore on a battery powered wheelchair, covering places like East Coast Park, MacRitchie Nature Reserves, Orchard, Shenton Way, HortParks, South Bouna Vista Rd etc.

I will be on the road continuously for at least 10 hours a day to achieve this aim of covering 200km.

To make this quest even more meaningful, I hope to be able to raise S$1 for every meter I travelled ~ Dennis Kweh

Link

The following footage was from ~~today~~ yesterday, the first day of three.

Adventure 200 (21 to 23 Apr 2009) by Ivan Chew is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Singapore License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://RamblingLibrarian.blogspot.com.

Dennis is a fellow librarian and my direct colleague at the NLB. He's doing this initiative in his personal capacity (though our employer has generously encouraged staff to support his efforts where we can).

On Day 1, Dennis drove his electric wheelchair in at around 10.30pm, at the sponsored chalet where he'll rest for the night.

After the volunteer doctor checked his BP and gave him the thumbs-up, my three other NLB colleagues (Wai Ling, Eleaner, Li Sa) and myself interviewed Dennis briefly.

Dennis said he didn't expect himself to last that long (for Day-1).

He had been in his power wheelchair for 10 hours straight (if you've taken a flight that long, you'll know that isn't easy).

His power wheelchair is essentially an electric-powered motor vehicle. It required his full attention to give it the right controls, stay in the correct direction. And also moderate his speed to allow the accompanying joggers and cyclists to keep up.

Dennis will continue his journey, to raise $200,000, today and the next.

Good luck, Dennis!

Details on how you can contribute, here.

[Next: Part 3]

One Singapore librarian's quest to raise $200,000 for The Spastic Children's Association (part 1)

2009-04-21T19:42:00.006+08:00

Arrgh. I'm sorry I didn't post this earlier.

A few months ago, my librarian colleague, Mr. Dennis Kweh, hatched the idea of raising funds for the Spastic Children's Association (Singapore).

By traveling 200km in a power wheelchair, within Singapore over three days.

He approached START Centre, who agreed to be the event organiser.

His "Adventure 200" starts today (ends on 23 Apr 09). I'll post more pictures and videos soon.

This is Dennis' open letter.

I am Dennis Kweh and I am a librarian.

I suffered from a rare genetic disorder Morquio Brailsford Disease, Spinal Sclerosis and blinded on one eye due to Glaucoma. I count myself among the fortunate few who lived a respectful and meaningful life. Now at 47 years old, I hope to return to the society by reaching out to help fellow disabled in this Adventure200 challenge in April 2009.

I plan to travel 200km over 3 days (21-23 Apr09) within Singapore on a battery powered wheelchair, covering places like East Coast Park, MacRitchie Nature Reserves, Orchard, Shenton Way, HortParks, South Bouna Vista Rd etc.

I will be on the road continuously for at least 10 hours a day to achieve this aim of covering 200km. To make this quest even more meaningful, I hope to be able to raise S$1 for every meter I travelled.

If I am successful in this quest, I will be able to raise S$200,000 for the Spastic Children's Association of Singapore (SCAS) to help people with cerebral palsy under their care.

SCAS was chosen as the beneficiary due to its specialized intervention and rehabilitative programs for cerebral palsy in Singapore. Cerebral palsy (CP) is an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious diseases that cause physical disability in human development. While cerebral palsy is a physically crippling disease, it is not a humanly crippling disease. The human spirit will not be discouraged.

With assistive technology gadgets, they empower the person with greater confidence, enhance independence and improve abilities. Take the good example of Stephen Hawkings, who is not hampered by his disability to be one of the finest scientists in this century.

On a personal level, I cannot just keep still and go about my daily life when I have seen what cerebral palsy patients went through during one of my visits to SCAS. Thus, I have made a personal challenge to do something for them and improve their lives through my wheelchair marathon.

The fundraising of this project will be managed by the START Centre Pte Ltd who has graciously come forward to join me in this worthy cause by offering their services free of charge. Your donations will go directly to the Spastic Children's Association of Singapore

I believe being disabled is no barrier to help other people with disabilities. I hope to be able to do my part, and despite the current belt tightening economic situation, I hope you will join me in this good cause and give generously or within your means.

Your donation will mean a lot for them as well as for me.

More at the event website - www.a200.sg (4 Mar Press Release).

See also the earlier coverage from The Straits Times, TODAYonline, more press coverage.

OK, right after I hit the SEND button, I've got to rush to meet a colleague who's driving a few of us to interview Dennis at his first night stop.

More updates to follow.

[Next: Part 2]