Gwendolyn MacNairn and William J. Turkel Close Access 2009
Gwendolyn MacNairn talked about her work with Zotero, including: how there seems to be a divide between the CompSci students (Zotero) and the rest of campus (RefWorks); students do not like to pay attention to the quality of the citation ("it is good enough"); both Zotero and RefWorks are good products with their own advantages and disadvantages. Gwendolyn also have an update on the legal issues Zotero had (and that are now gone) and the future functionality of this great product.
Bill Turkel provided a fascinating view on technology and history from a tech-saavy historian's viewpoint - and it . Bill does an exercise with his students where he asks them to think up a piece of technology that would allow you to experience the past, in the context of the Star Trek holodeck, but not using that piece of technology. What if you had a pair of knitting Needles that would remember very pattern they ever created. What about a Reverse Babel Fish that made it seem like every person around you was speaking Middle English. What if you had a tangible spray that allowed you to reach into the cloud and feel what the past felt like. Bill brings the scientific and historic together to make the humanities come alive. He summed up the Access 2009 Conference by saying that playing with the real world, one that pushes back and challenges, we learn in a much more effective way because we become the doers and makers of things.
I want to go back to school and I want Bill to be my teacher. Please!
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