Insert Tech Here

The tech-related resources available at the Edmon Low Library are seemingly endless. Everything from virtual reality studios to flight simulators to 3D printing is offered by the Edmon Low Creative Studios. All of these great technologies, as well as many others, were showcased at Insert Tech Here. Insert Tech Here was an open-house style library event where students, faculty and staff could learn more about all of the technological resources the Edmon Low Creative Studios has to offer.

As the Event Communications Intern, I had the opportunity to host the livestream portion of this event. I kept the livestream audience up-to-date on what was happening at the event and interviewed a handful of the event presenters to get more information about the studio where they were stationed. The presenters shared information on how students can obtain access to the various studios, what they can use them for and interesting projects they had seen completed using that specific technology.

Not having much livestream experience beforehand, I was incredibly nervous for this event. I spent the few weeks leading up to the event preparing by drafting a script and writing interview questions to ask the presenters. When the day of the event came, I was even more nervous, especially when the livestream began. The first step was to give the introduction. I welcomed the audience and gave a rundown of what all would happen during the event. After this, I felt a little more confident but was still anxious about how the rest of the event would go. The next step was the interviews. My first interview was with Shannon Garde, and we talked about the Tech To Go resource offered by the Edmon Low Creative Studios. After this interview I felt even more confident. This pattern continued through the rest of the event, so by the end of it I was more comfortable and confident than I could have thought. After the event was over, I realized that I never had anything to worry about.

The event was livestreamed through the Edmon Low Library Facebook page. This allowed the online audience to interact with and learn more about the studios, even if they were not able to attend the event. Viewers were also encouraged to leave comments on the livestream to have their questions answered by tech experts at the event. Several door prizes were also given away to attendees throughout the event.

At the event, the winners of the Library Creativity Award were announced. The winners spoke about their creative process and how they came to create their final product. Most of the LCA winners had utilized resources in the Creative Studios to create their winning project. I thought this was interesting because each winner created something so different from the others, so it was neat to actually be able to see what is possible when utilizing the Edmon Low Creative Studios. As a student, I found this incredibly relevant because I am always looking for ways to make my projects stand out and be the best that they can be.

During the process of preparing for the event and hosting the livestream, I was able to take away a lot of valuable lessons. There were times when I was stressed and wasn’t sure if I would be able to do it or I doubted my ability to do well. I learned to be confident in myself and that stepping out of my comfort zone can be incredibly rewarding. Looking back now, the biggest lesson I learned was no matter how much you prepare for something, sometimes things happen that you can’t prepare for and you have to be OK with going with the flow. Going into the event we had planned to do two interviews, but as the event went on we had some extra space to fill, so by the end of it I interviewed six people. This wasn’t what we had initially planned, but we went with it, and it ended up turning out well and added a lot to the event.

The purpose of Insert Tech Here was to showcase all of the technology the Edmon Low Creative Studios has to offer. The Creative Studios is home to Tech To Go, a resource that allows students to check out the latest technology free of charge, but there is also so much more. The 3D Printing Creative Studio, the Jim & Liz Wise Virtual Reality Creative Studios, the Virtual Simulation Creative Studio (which holds the new flight simulator!), the McCasland Foundation Data Visualization Studio, the Windows and Adobe Studios (which hold the Jim & Liz Wise Digital Music Upgrade software) and the Recording and Presentation Studio are all part of the Edmon Low Creative Studios.

These rooms are all available to students, faculty and staff and can be reserved on the Edmon Low Creative Studios website. The Edmon Low Creative Studios are located on the east side of the first floor of the Edmon Low Library.

Be sure to utilize these resources to take your projects to the next level!

Post by Teryn Moorman, Event Communications Intern.

5 Tips to Ditch Study Distractions

Prefinals and finals week are just around the corner, which means students will be putting in a lot of study hours to ace those exams. With rising temperatures and long summer days in view, many students have a hard time staying focused during study sessions. We've all been there--a quick "break" turns into three episodes of "Friends," a snack and 40 minutes of social media browsing.

So how do you combat the constant distractions? First things first, cut out technology. Yes, you heard me. According to Deloitte, 18-24 year olds check their phones an average of 74 times per day. With such a high statistic, there's no doubt that electronics are a significant distraction to students.

I understand that cutting out technology is easier said then done, so let's go through a few simple, non-committal efforts to try rather than going cold turkey.

#1: Turn On Airplane Mode

Putting your devices on airplane mode is a great way to unplug whenever you need to. I have an iPhone and the "Do Not Disturb" setting has never worked well for me, because I can still see all the texts and notifications on my home screen when I open my phone to check the time. Airplane mode is the happy medium that allows users to turn off the distractions when needed, knowing it will all still be there after you finish that lengthy study guide.

#2: Delete Apps

Deleting apps that distract you, such as Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat, is a great way to unplug. When I need a break from technology, this is the technique that works best for me. You aren't deleting your accounts or data, just the ability to access it at your fingertips whenever you want.

#3: Put 'Em On Mute

I promise, your friends will understand. Those huge group chats and GroupMe conversations can be a truly constant distraction with a notification buzzing every other second. Luckily, both GroupMe and group chats can be silenced while you study.

#4: Print Study Materials 

I'll admit that this strategy may not be the most efficient if you have to print out the slides for the entire semester (I've been there.) But, for those simple Word documents or study guides, I encourage you to print them and fill them out by hand. Not only is handwriting proven to increase memory retention, but printing worksheets rather than filling them out electronically eliminates the temptation to browse playlists or open a new browser to "take a quick break" to look at cat videos (again, been there.)

#5: Download Apps

I know that downloading apps to help you unplug may seam counterproductive, but not when it comes to apps like Forest, Flora and AppDetox. These are just a few of the "unplugging" apps on the market. Once you download them onto your phone, you can set certain restrictions on the apps you use most like Instagram and Snapchat. These apps can also log your usage and progress so that you can remain accountable. Utilizing productivity apps can help limit distractions at the source.

Given these tips, there is one final element to ensure an effective study session: the location. No matter how "unplugged" you are, you won't get anything done if you're at your house surrounded by roommates or, for some people, at a crowded coffee shop. For students seeking a spacious, relaxed environment equipped with coffee, computers, printing and much more, I recommend the Edmon Low Library. With study rooms, the Edmon Low Creative Studios, and designated silent, whisper and group study zones, you are sure to find your ideal study space to successfully unplug, focus and prepare.

How do you successfully study for your exams? Let us know your thoughts below!

Posted by Tatum Wallace, Electronic Communications Intern for OSU Library Communications

User-Generated Content: Your Questions, Answered

It's no secret that social media is a much more significant marketing tool now than it was five years ago. Whether it be Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat or some combination, companies and brands worldwide are expanding their reach by establishing social media accounts in order to remain relevant in today's progressive tech world. This new era of business has produced a marketing element we see every day but may not recognize: user-generated content or UGC.

So what exactly is user-generated content? According to social media management service Sprout Social, UGC is a "source of content crafted by a consumer, social media follower, fan or influencer that lives under your brand’s properties."

UGC is a efficient and authentic way of publicizing a brand through a third party. Thanks to retweets, likes and shares, ordinary people all over the world are able to connect both with each other and the brands they care about. Below are a few of the ways I work with and have seen the benefits of Library-centered UGC.

Location: Library Lawn

On Instagram, users can tag their posts at certain locations. Library Lawn is a popular location option on campus with significant post traffic from all sorts of people on campus. For example, during homecoming week students and alumni alike posted awesome pictures of themselves with friends and family who were celebrating America's Greatest Homecoming. My favorite type of post on Library Lawn usually comes from prospective or future students who are visiting for a tour or recruiting day! The Library Lawn Instagram location is a wonderful collection of posts from all types of OSU fans making memories at the heart of campus.

Hashtags: #EdmonLow and #OkStateLibrary

Hashtags are also useful tools on social media for people interested in viewing categorized content. Some useful hashtags that I search are #EdmonLow and #OkStateLibrary. By searching these hashtags, I am able to view any posts having to do with OSU Libraries that are tagged with them. From there I can sift through what people are talking about and pick out a funny tweet or photo to feature on digital signage. From impromptu workout videos on the third floor of Edmon Low to words of encouragement during finals week, hashtags are a great way to see what people are doing at the Library.

Mentions: "Edmon Low"

This form of UGC is any text that is typed and posted, no specific hashtag or location needed. In addition to mentioning the library, people may also tag the Library account in the post. Both of these types of UGC are considered mentions. As far as Library coverage, I can search anything from "Edmon Low" to "finals," depending on the time of year, to see what OSU students are doing at the Library. Mentions are very useful because they streamline a form of feedback that Library management may be unaware of otherwise. Complaints and suggestions about Wi-Fi, uncomfortable temperatures and disruptions in Edmon Low are often tweeted about. Once I see such tweets, I can direct the content to facilities management or other necessary staff member to be addressed.

My time as the Electronic Communication Intern at the Library has taught me how crucial UGC is to connecting with the target audience on social media. UGC opens up the door for brands such as OSU Libraries to interact with their audience and foster a personal connection. If someone tweets about the Wi-Fi not working, the Library will typically respond to the tweet to collect more information and assure them that the issue is being addressed. Even small acts such as this can create a relationship between brand and consumer that can have a lasting, beneficial effect.

 Posted by Tatum Wallace, Electronic Communications Intern for OSU Library Communications

Solar Eclipse Unifies OkState Campus

The first day of school. It's a day that is usually pretty hectic as students, faculty and staff adjust to their new schedules. OSU resembles a beehive on this day, as all the busy students buzz around campus buying books, socializing with friends and figuring out what building their next class is in. It's a day of excitement and adventure, two things most students embrace fully as the typically uneventful summer months come to a close.

August 21, 2017, proved to be even more exciting than any other first day of school, well, ever. For the first time in over 20 years, a solar eclipse was set to take place that afternoon. 

The frenzy surrounding the eclipse was astounding. All over the country, people were eager to view this fascinating astronomical event. However, there were many experts who expressed that looking directly at the eclipse, similar to looking directly at the sun, would cause eye damage. NASA warned that the eclipse should only be viewed through solar filters or hand-held eclipse viewers.

Students were eager to view the eclipse but had concerns about where to watch it and how to view it correctly. Luckily the OSU Library offered three safe ways of witnessing the eclipse. A viewing party took place that Monday afternoon from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Beverly Clerico Plaza, where students could view the eclipse through filtered glasses or with a larger projection. And for people who may have had class during that time, the event was livestreamed on OState.TV as well as the OSU Facebook page.

The Library passed out the 200 pairs of eclipse glasses at 11:30 a.m. However, students began lining up outside hours before the event was set to start, eager to get one of the 200 pairs of glasses. Quickly it became apparent that 200 pairs of glasses would not be a sufficient amount, as the expected 400 people tripled to well over 1,200 attendees. The growing crowd was no problem for the OSU Cowboys, as many people began showcasing the friendly Cowboy spirit by sharing glasses with those around them. The 360 view of the Beverly Clerico Plaza during the eclipse provides a firsthand look at the amount of people out and about that afternoon.

In addition to eclipse glasses, OSU Library used one of its telescopes during the viewing party. The telescope was a great way to look at the eclipse in a public way, as opposed to personal glasses. Students surrounded the telescope to get an enlarged view of the eclipse as it was projected on to a shaded flat surface.

There are four types of telescopes offered at the library's Creative Studios, as well as astronomical binoculars. Students are welcome to check any of the telescopes out for up to three days at a time. Telescopes are one of many categories of tech gear available at the Edmon Low Creative Studios. 

The solar eclipse was also livestreamed on OState.TV and the OSU Facebook page for those unable to see it in person. Within 24 hours, the Facebook livestream reached nearly 70,000 people around the world. Viewers from Australia, Ecuador, Spain and Botswana tuned in to watch the event in realtime. OState.TV uploaded the rebroadcast of the solar eclipse to their website. 

The eclipse peaked at 1:06 p.m. in Stillwater. On any ordinary day, campus is usually quiet around that time. People are either briskly walking to class or hiding indoors to escape the summer heat. However, a rare solar eclipse was more than enough reason for people to migrate outside. Students and faculty members could be seen sharing viewing glasses and discussing the eclipse with one another, bonding over shared interest and curiosity.

With every new year comes new supplies, a new workload and a new routine. It's not every day that a first day of school includes a rare solar eclipse, though. On this day, the hustle and bustle of the first day seemed to come to a halt as members of the OSU family found common ground through knowledge and innovation.

What did you think of the event? Comment below to share your solar eclipse experience.

Posted by Tatum Wallace, Electronic Communications Intern for OSU Library Communications

Surplus of Creativity in the Digital Age

In our Feb. 8 blog post, we discussed how artificial intelligence could impact the library. The post's video "Humans Need Not Apply" argues that an economy built entirely on creative works could not exist, but in the age of social media could we see the beginnings of such a thing?

In his book, "Cognitive Surplus" Clay Shirky discusses the impact a globalized network has had on human efforts. The Industrial Revolution brought with it our modern work schedule, complete with time off and television to occupy that time. As Shirky observes, a good deal of our free time in the past had been spent gawking at this relatively new invention. However, the Internet has redirected that energy. The internet provides what Shirky describes as the "means, motive and opportunity" to put our energies into seeking, creating and sharing more personal and meaningful content.

Every time something is seen, enjoyed, or shared by us, we participate in a new content economy. Any time we make a modification, which can be something as simple as an accompanying caption or as transformative as a remix, we contribute to its gross domestic product. The new entrepreneurs in this economy are the ones who devote themselves to content creation. It's easy to view the surface of sites such as YouTube and Facebook and see just that sliver as a representative consensus, but the rabbit hole goes much deeper.

New movements within art, music, film and entertainment are being developed as you read this. Globalized genres of music such as vaporwave have emerged within just the last few years and already you can fill weeks' of continuous playlists and never repeat a single song. According to company data cited by the Wall Street Journal, as much as 12 hours of audio and music are uploaded to independent publishing site Soundcloud every minute.

Content creators in 2016 have the capability to publish exponentially more media than those of a just a few decades ago. You'll only ever have the opportunity to see a minute fraction of these publications. This blog happens to be a piece of it. If it exists, there's an audience for it.

For libraries this is a chance to be a hub for those who wish to engage in and expand their role in this content driven industry. Libraries already house many of the means of production. Computers, books, software, and peripheral hardware are all already in most of our libraries. Makerspaces are an example of this. These resources represent Shirky's means, motives, and opportunity for millions of creative people.

With an explosion of new art and culture occurring that is capable of rivaling that of the Renaissance, it is not unfeasible to imagine that a new generation of Rembrandts and Michelangelos are currently in their early youth, living near libraries that could give them the tools they need to discover their genius.

How do you view the library's role in this age of content? What services could the library provide to not only further the creative abilities of its users but also connect and engage with users beyond its doors?

Symbiotic Intelligence: How A.I. May Create Cooperative Education in the Future

A recent publication in the World Economic Forum titled “The Future of Jobs” asserts that over 5 million jobs may be lost to robotization by the year 2020. YouTube channel CGP Grey, a channel that specializes in discussing various concepts in depth, has created a fascinating video discussing just how technological advances can outpace human efforts:

This video raises many intriguing - and possibly unanswerable - questions. For those of us working in the library space some of those questions might include

• How will robotization and digital intelligences affect the way library services are provided? 
• Where will the librarian fit in with all of this? 
• How will those people whose jobs have been phased out utilize a library? 

As CGP Grey’s video posits, digital entities capable of learning, interacting, and producing creative output can accomplish quite a lot. It’s conceivable that even this blog post could someday be written by a well-educated computer intelligence rather than the intern with a penchant for procrastination. That said, it’s entirely possible these advances could see the creation of more effective libraries, more effective librarians and all around more effective learning experiences.

The path to creating smarter, stronger and more capable machines lies in replicating our own psychological learning needs. The conundrum this presents is that the human learning process is an innumerable sum of different ethereal mental mechanisms.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg describes a bulk of these processes as "unsupervised learning." Zuckerberg has invested a great deal of time and capital into the development of artificial intelligence, making it one of Facebook, Inc.'s largest development projects.

In a recent Facebook status update about his aspirations for artificial intelligence development, Zuckerberg said, “Unsupervised learning is learning how the world works by observing and trying things out rather than being told what to do... It's key to building systems with human-like common sense because it doesn't require a person to teach it everything they know. It gives the machine the ability to anticipate what may happen in the future and predict the effect of an action. It could help us build machines that can hold conversations or plan complex sequences of actions... We fundamentally do not understand how general learning works... Until we solve this problem, throwing all the machine power in the world at it cannot create an AI that can do everything a person can.”

This is to say that the human mind is a vast, complex and unique thinking machine that cannot be defined by sheer horsepower. Understanding all of the mechanisms in which it learns is the key to not only the creation of artificial intelligence, but also more effective learning and teaching practices. A thinking machine can not only learn from human teachers, but also teach human learners.

Imagine the impact such an entity could have on a library. Makerspaces, writing labs, research, database optimization, all manner of workshops, all could see a dramatic overhaul of how they're performed, delivered and absorbed by they're audience.

As for the librarians, certain functions librarians perform such as the analyzing, management and acquisition of materials or information and data processing could foreseeably be delegated to thinking computers in the future, but the more human functions of librarians - those directly involved with enlightening and educating the users of the library - need not be replaced because such functions are best fostered by human relationships.

For example, people like to use Siri, but no one really respects Siri as a person. "She" is not a mentor, or a teacher, or a researcher or a friend. "She" doesn’t recognize her user’s learning process or where it might be stumbling, and can only provide feedback in the form of suggestions of what "she" believes they might have meant based on her programming. Digital intelligence may be able to replicate operational functions, but the human capacity for learning requires a set of intangible qualities. A machine capable of learning and teaching may enhance a human's education to a degree, but it takes a human to best understand a human.

What does the development of artificial intelligence mean to you? How do you foresee it affecting your role in the library? How will education utilize intelligent technologies? Share your thoughts in the comments section.