1. Building Digital Communities: New Resource to Help Communities Bridge the Digital Divide
2. Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) provides free institute, resources
3. Wordless Books Webinar: Visual Literacy for Children and Teens
4. 2012 Hans Christian Andersen Award winners
5. Integrate iPads and tablets into library services
6. Building the ultimate summer reading app
7. Website of the Week -- WeatherSpark
8. Calendar
=================================================
1. BUILDING DIGITAL COMMUNITIES: NEW RESOURCE TO HELP BRIDGE THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
There are still 100 million Americans who do not have a broadband connection to the Internet. This sobering statistic has profound implications for economic success, educational achievement, and civic life. Communities face difficult challenges in their efforts to provide digital opportunity for all their residents.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), together with the University of Washington and the International City/County Management Association, has consulted with hundreds of community members and experts over the past 18 months to identify action steps and a framework for building digital communities.
With the release of Building Digital Communities: A Framework for Action (http://www.imls.gov/assets/1/AssetManager/BuildingDigitalCommunities_Framework.pdf) and its companion primer Building Digital Communities: Getting Started, (http://www.imls.gov/assets/1/AssetManager/BuildingDigitalCommunities.pdf), communities have a new resource to help set a vision for the future. These resources raise awareness about the access and adoption that are essential to digital communities and identify goals related to availability, affordability, design for inclusion, public access, relevance, digital literacy, and consumer safety. They also provide strategic areas where communities may wish to focus their digital inclusion efforts, such areas as economic and workforce development, education, and civic engagement, as well as concrete sample strategies for organizations and individuals to use in achieving a community's goals.
IMLS Director Susan Hildreth said, "According to the FCC, one-third of all Americans - 100 million people - have not adopted broadband high-speed Internet at home. And, the Pew Research Center identified one of the top three obstacles to broadband adoption as digital literacy. Digital literacy skills are necessary for individuals to take advantage of the educational, economic, and social opportunities available through these technologies in today's increasingly digital society."
Communities must engage all sectors to create opportunity - government, individuals, local and tribal governing bodies, business, the nonprofit community, special interest groups, and other stakeholders. Libraries are among the essential community anchors that have a significant role to play in providing access, encouraging adoption, and impacting the health and vitality of their communities.
As a next step, IMLS is working with WebJunction, Tech Soup, and the International City/County Management Association to develop curriculum and training resources to support community efforts. They are currently conducting a Digital Inclusion Community Needs Assessment, surveying directors of organizations on level of awareness, the priorities for getting started or continuing existing efforts, and the challenges and successes encountered. They will hold a test summit in May and a full leadership summit in June.
More information can be found at http://www.imls.gov/building_digital_communities_new_resource_to_help_communities_bridge_the_digital_divide.aspx.
2. MILITARY CHILD EDUCATION COALITION (MCEC) PROVIDES FREE INSTITUTE, RESOURCES
Wisconsin educators are invited to participate in an institute designed to assist school leaders in dealing with the children of military families in schools.
The Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) is providing a free institute entitled Supporting Youth of Guard and Reserve Institute (GRI) (http://sspw.dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/sspw/pdf/mcsave_the_date.pdf). This free training will be held May 8-9 at the Hotel Chequamegon in Ashland, WI. The Institute is designed to support the work of school counselors, school administrators, mental health and social work professionals.
Information about the event and other resources available to schools, parents and communities about supporting the children of military families in schools can be found at
http://sspw.dpi.wi.gov/sspw_militarychild according to Shelley Joan Weiss, the Wisconsin Commissioner for the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunities for Military Children. Weiss is a former middle level principal, most recently in Waunakee, WI and has a distinguished record in the Wisconsin Air National Guard.
For information on this topic, please contact Shelley Joan at 608-698-2409 or shelleyjoan.weiss1@gmail.com.
3. WORDLESS BOOKS WEBINAR: VISUAL LITERACY FOR CHILDREN AND TEENS
Librarians Megan Schliesman and Merri Lindgren from the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) discuss why wordless (and nearly wordless) picture books are valuable and which ones you should check out. This 30-minute webinar, presented originally on March 21, 2012, is archived on the CCBC Shorts site http://scls.typepad.com/ccbcshorts/ for your viewing convenience.
4. 2012 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN AWARD WINNERS
The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) announced the winners of the 2012 Hans Christian Andersen Awards at the Bologna Book Fair on March 19. María Teresa Andruetto from Argentina has won the Author Award and Peter Sís from the Czech Republic has won the Illustrator Award. The awards are given every two years to a living author and illustrator whose complete works are judged to have made lasting contributions to children's literature. (From Publishers Weekly, March 19)
5. INTEGRATE IPADS AND TABLETS INTO LIBRARY SERVICES
In light of Apple's recent rollout of the new iPad, you may be interested in integrating iPads and tablet computers into library services. Check out these sample policies, sample library user agreements, and other relevant resources from a recent American Library Association (ALA) TechSource workshop here: http://www.alatechsource.org/blog/2012/03/continuing-the-conversation-integrating-ipads-and-tablet-computers-into-library-service or http://tinyurl.com/7qgkmtq.
6. BUILDING THE ULTIMATE SUMMER READING APP
Nate Hill from the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) blog writes: "The summer reading program is probably the most ubiquitous public library program in the United States. The Digital Public Library of America has been hosting a conversation about what it would mean to scale summer-reading software up to the national level. There is great potential in using the emerging DPLA platform as a foundation upon which a digital summer-reading application might be built."
http://dp.la/2012/03/13/building-the-ultimate-summer-reading-app/
7. WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
WeatherSpark -- http://weatherspark.com/ -- This free site offers interactive weather graphs that allow users to pan and zoom through the entire history of any weather station on earth. (Website reference courtesy of refdesk.com)
8. CALENDAR
March 28-30, 2012 - Wisconsin Education Media and Technology Association (WEMTA) Annual Conference, Wisconsin Dells
April 17-18, 2012 - LSTA Advisory Committee meeting, Madison
April 23-24, 2012 - American Library Association National Library Legislative Day, Washington, DC
May 4, 2012 - Special Needs Consultants annual meeting, DeForest
May 9-11, 2012 - Wisconsin Association of Public Libraries annual conference, Stevens Point
May 18, 2012 - Council on Library and Network Development (COLAND) meeting, Whitewater
October 23-26, 2012 - Wisconsin Library Association (WLA) annual conference, La Crosse
==================================================
To access previous issues of Channel Weekly, or to subscribe or unsubscribe,
go to: http://channel.dpi.wi.gov/chn_chweekly
==================================================
Roslyn M. Wise
Editor, Channel Weekly
Department of Public Instruction
Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning
PO Box 7841
Madison, WI 53707-7841
Phone: (608) 266-6439
FAX: (608) 267-9207
2. Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) provides free institute, resources
3. Wordless Books Webinar: Visual Literacy for Children and Teens
4. 2012 Hans Christian Andersen Award winners
5. Integrate iPads and tablets into library services
6. Building the ultimate summer reading app
7. Website of the Week -- WeatherSpark
8. Calendar
=================================================
1. BUILDING DIGITAL COMMUNITIES: NEW RESOURCE TO HELP BRIDGE THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
There are still 100 million Americans who do not have a broadband connection to the Internet. This sobering statistic has profound implications for economic success, educational achievement, and civic life. Communities face difficult challenges in their efforts to provide digital opportunity for all their residents.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), together with the University of Washington and the International City/County Management Association, has consulted with hundreds of community members and experts over the past 18 months to identify action steps and a framework for building digital communities.
With the release of Building Digital Communities: A Framework for Action (http://www.imls.gov/assets/1/AssetManager/BuildingDigitalCommunities_Framework.pdf) and its companion primer Building Digital Communities: Getting Started, (http://www.imls.gov/assets/1/AssetManager/BuildingDigitalCommunities.pdf), communities have a new resource to help set a vision for the future. These resources raise awareness about the access and adoption that are essential to digital communities and identify goals related to availability, affordability, design for inclusion, public access, relevance, digital literacy, and consumer safety. They also provide strategic areas where communities may wish to focus their digital inclusion efforts, such areas as economic and workforce development, education, and civic engagement, as well as concrete sample strategies for organizations and individuals to use in achieving a community's goals.
IMLS Director Susan Hildreth said, "According to the FCC, one-third of all Americans - 100 million people - have not adopted broadband high-speed Internet at home. And, the Pew Research Center identified one of the top three obstacles to broadband adoption as digital literacy. Digital literacy skills are necessary for individuals to take advantage of the educational, economic, and social opportunities available through these technologies in today's increasingly digital society."
Communities must engage all sectors to create opportunity - government, individuals, local and tribal governing bodies, business, the nonprofit community, special interest groups, and other stakeholders. Libraries are among the essential community anchors that have a significant role to play in providing access, encouraging adoption, and impacting the health and vitality of their communities.
As a next step, IMLS is working with WebJunction, Tech Soup, and the International City/County Management Association to develop curriculum and training resources to support community efforts. They are currently conducting a Digital Inclusion Community Needs Assessment, surveying directors of organizations on level of awareness, the priorities for getting started or continuing existing efforts, and the challenges and successes encountered. They will hold a test summit in May and a full leadership summit in June.
More information can be found at http://www.imls.gov/building_digital_communities_new_resource_to_help_communities_bridge_the_digital_divide.aspx.
2. MILITARY CHILD EDUCATION COALITION (MCEC) PROVIDES FREE INSTITUTE, RESOURCES
Wisconsin educators are invited to participate in an institute designed to assist school leaders in dealing with the children of military families in schools.
The Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) is providing a free institute entitled Supporting Youth of Guard and Reserve Institute (GRI) (http://sspw.dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/sspw/pdf/mcsave_the_date.pdf). This free training will be held May 8-9 at the Hotel Chequamegon in Ashland, WI. The Institute is designed to support the work of school counselors, school administrators, mental health and social work professionals.
Information about the event and other resources available to schools, parents and communities about supporting the children of military families in schools can be found at
http://sspw.dpi.wi.gov/sspw_militarychild according to Shelley Joan Weiss, the Wisconsin Commissioner for the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunities for Military Children. Weiss is a former middle level principal, most recently in Waunakee, WI and has a distinguished record in the Wisconsin Air National Guard.
For information on this topic, please contact Shelley Joan at 608-698-2409 or shelleyjoan.weiss1@gmail.com.
3. WORDLESS BOOKS WEBINAR: VISUAL LITERACY FOR CHILDREN AND TEENS
Librarians Megan Schliesman and Merri Lindgren from the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) discuss why wordless (and nearly wordless) picture books are valuable and which ones you should check out. This 30-minute webinar, presented originally on March 21, 2012, is archived on the CCBC Shorts site http://scls.typepad.com/ccbcshorts/ for your viewing convenience.
4. 2012 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN AWARD WINNERS
The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) announced the winners of the 2012 Hans Christian Andersen Awards at the Bologna Book Fair on March 19. María Teresa Andruetto from Argentina has won the Author Award and Peter Sís from the Czech Republic has won the Illustrator Award. The awards are given every two years to a living author and illustrator whose complete works are judged to have made lasting contributions to children's literature. (From Publishers Weekly, March 19)
5. INTEGRATE IPADS AND TABLETS INTO LIBRARY SERVICES
In light of Apple's recent rollout of the new iPad, you may be interested in integrating iPads and tablet computers into library services. Check out these sample policies, sample library user agreements, and other relevant resources from a recent American Library Association (ALA) TechSource workshop here: http://www.alatechsource.org/blog/2012/03/continuing-the-conversation-integrating-ipads-and-tablet-computers-into-library-service or http://tinyurl.com/7qgkmtq.
6. BUILDING THE ULTIMATE SUMMER READING APP
Nate Hill from the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) blog writes: "The summer reading program is probably the most ubiquitous public library program in the United States. The Digital Public Library of America has been hosting a conversation about what it would mean to scale summer-reading software up to the national level. There is great potential in using the emerging DPLA platform as a foundation upon which a digital summer-reading application might be built."
http://dp.la/2012/03/13/building-the-ultimate-summer-reading-app/
7. WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
WeatherSpark -- http://weatherspark.com/ -- This free site offers interactive weather graphs that allow users to pan and zoom through the entire history of any weather station on earth. (Website reference courtesy of refdesk.com)
8. CALENDAR
March 28-30, 2012 - Wisconsin Education Media and Technology Association (WEMTA) Annual Conference, Wisconsin Dells
April 17-18, 2012 - LSTA Advisory Committee meeting, Madison
April 23-24, 2012 - American Library Association National Library Legislative Day, Washington, DC
May 4, 2012 - Special Needs Consultants annual meeting, DeForest
May 9-11, 2012 - Wisconsin Association of Public Libraries annual conference, Stevens Point
May 18, 2012 - Council on Library and Network Development (COLAND) meeting, Whitewater
October 23-26, 2012 - Wisconsin Library Association (WLA) annual conference, La Crosse
==================================================
To access previous issues of Channel Weekly, or to subscribe or unsubscribe,
go to: http://channel.dpi.wi.gov/chn_chweekly
==================================================
Roslyn M. Wise
Editor, Channel Weekly
Department of Public Instruction
Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning
PO Box 7841
Madison, WI 53707-7841
Phone: (608) 266-6439
FAX: (608) 267-9207
For questions about this information, contact Roslyn Wise (608) 266-6439