Searchguide 2.0

• Blekinge Institute of Technology library has offered education in information seeking on campus and online and has developed web based tools for this which have received much attention1. The Quick Search Guide and The Search Guide are now used in all courses we offer at Blekinge Institute of Technology. The Quick Search Guide contains very basic information about searching and evaluation of sources. The Search Guide is both more extensive and deeper than The Quick Search Guide. But in the light of Web 2.0, The Search Guide’s lack of participation seemed outdated, in some respects, so we decided to rework it, and this time we were going to do it based on open source systems. From Consultants to Open Source When we decided to switch from a system tailored by a consulting firm to an open source system, we were confronted by a fairly large set of choices. One important decision was the question of which open source system was to be the base to work on. Another important question was about the community the system was supposed to serve. In our view the community was in focus, but the choice of system was also crucial since its job is to underpin the community. Our main directives when we looked for a system were that it had to be fairly light weight and based on standards. It was also important that it was based on the most common programming languages and software structures. But the most important aspect was interactivity and communication. One of the main points for switching software was the move from information publishing to communication, and that aspect had to set the stage for what kind of system we choose. Our choice was Wordpress, the largest weblog software in the world. It is a native communication system, and it meets all requirements we had. The Searchguide 2.0 community system comprises two Wordpress installations, a shared library/community of texts and learning objects, and a local customizable end user search guide. Agendas And finally, we want to point to the theoretical/philosophical agendas of the project. * we want to participate in the open source, open access movements. We think this is an important step for the whole community of learning professionals. * we want to collaborate around learning objects. * we also want to raise awareness and knowledge about lightweight, open source, web 2.0 systems. * in the process we hope to be able to communicate participation strategies which makes us wiser and better equipped for the future. * let users participate in the creation of content – in the local search guide. * Communicate library interaction strategies. A large part of the participating organizations will probably be libraries.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogy (hsv//eng)

Keyword

learning

web 2.0

library 2.0

serachguide

library

distance education

netlearning

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)