Information tools, techniques and tips

1
Information tools, techniques and tips

• COLMSCT, Thursday 27th March

2
Information overloaded?

• The sum of all human knowledge will double every
  73 days by 2020
• More new information has been produced in the
  last 30 years than in the 5,000 years before
  that.
• There are 112.8 million blogs
• A new blog is created every second
• The Invisible Web contains nearly 550 billion
  individual documents as compared with the Surface
  Web's 1 billion.

3
Sources

• What sources do you currently use to find
  information?
• How did you find out about them?

4
Sources

• Here are some suggested starting points for
  finding information on e-learning and
  e-assessment on the Library website
• Online collections by subject pages on the
  library website These provide lists of relevant
  databases and journals and are a good starting
  point
• http//library.open.ac.uk/find/eresources/index.cf
  m
• One stop search allows cross searching of some
  of the library databases can be found on the
  front page of the Library website

5
Innovate journal of online education
http//innovateonline.info/index.php

• Freely available online journal exploring the
  creative use of information technology (IT) to
  enhance educational processes in all sectors
• February/March 2008 issue provides articles on
  online learning and teaching
• Has discussion forums and monthly webcasts, need
  to register to participate
• Can set it up to receive notification of new
  issues/webcasts

6
If you are looking for a particular resource

• For electronic resources
• Check the A-Z database list http//library.open.a
  c.uk/find/databases/index.cfm
• Check the A-Z e-journals list
• http//library.open.ac.uk/find/journals/index.cfm
  
• For print (and electronic items)
• Check Voyager
• http//voyager.open.ac.uk/

7
Other sources of information

• Blogs Google blog search http//blogsearch.googl
  e.com/
• Repositories http//www.oaister.org/
• Google Scholar http//scholar.google.com/

8
Evaluating information

• What criteria do you use when evaluating
  information?
• What is the most important criterion to you?
• Does one type of information e.g. websites,
  feature higher in meeting your needs than the
  others available?
• Or does it depend on the subject you are looking
  at?
• Information Skills for Researchers
• http//www.open.ac.uk/infoskills-researchers/

9
Getting organised

• Information management toolkit -
  http//ou.goodpractice.net/?ContentID38583
• Bibliographic software
• http//library.open.ac.uk/research/bibliomgt/index
  .cfm
• Endnote
• RefWorks
• Organising your bookmarks and favorites
• Using social bookmarking tools e.g.
  http//del.icio.us/
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vx66lV7GOcNUNR1

10
Keeping yourself up to date

• http//library.open.ac.uk/help/howto/keepup/index.
  cfm
• Journal articles
• Zetoc alerts
• Some databases offer alerting services (Academic
  Search Complete, NexisUK, Web of Science and
  Science Direct)
• Books http//library.open.ac.uk/find/books/newboo
  ks/index.cfm

11
Keeping up to date

• MyIntute - a free online service providing you
  with access to the very best Web resources for
  education and research http//www.intute.ac.uk
• Mailing lists http//www.jiscmail.ac.uk,
• http//lists.asu.edu/archives/ (american
  version)
• RSS feeds blogs

12
Need further help

• Library helpdesk lib-help_at_open.ac.uk Tel 01908
  659001
• Nicola Dowson (n.dowson_at_open.ac.uk) Learning
  Teaching Librarian Team Leader for MCT
• Jo Parker (j.e.parker_at_open.ac.uk) Information
  Literacy Unit Manager, Library