The end...or not

For my students, it is the end of the semester. For me, the end is not here yet because I'm reading their last papers and final grades are due early next week. As you may remember, my students had to blog and they have completed their blog posts for the semester. 32 students created nearly 224 blog posts in which they looked at digitization programs and digitized materials that are on the Internet. I asked that the find and look at different programs, and then write about them. I knew, that as the semester progressed, that what they saw in the programs would change. At first, for example, some focused on the way the web sites were created and their usability. After the copyright readings and assignment, many focused on the copyright clearance and terms of use for different programs. Then some started noticing the content management systems being used or if the programs had mounted information about the standards, etc., being used.

In workshops, I ask participants if they look at digitization programs online and always a number of heads nod up and down. I never, though, as how frequently they go and look at new programs. I know that in our busy work lives, it can be hard to find time to look at lots of different programs on a ongoing basis. These student blog posts given you a window into more digitization programs than you may have time to investigate on your own. By reading or skimming the posts, you'll find programs that match your interests or your ideas for your own institution. You'll find ideas to check out and things to bookmark.

The blog also contains posts from the spring 2006 semester, which means there are more than 400 blog posts to read (and likely 99% of them do not duplicate programs/projects). So go, read, skim, dream, learn, and maybe post a comment. The content is there for you to use.

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5/9/2007: Corrected the URLs. My apologies for the typo. The blog is at http://ist677.blogspot.com. Thanks to the reader who questioned the URL.

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Technorati tag: Digitization