I have been a fan of ClickView for years now in providing excellent video libraries for schools and being able to easily source TV recordings from TV Networks and Foxtel. In addition is the ability to modify and create content for your school.
In recent times, I have been concerned with the amount of technical support that is being provided. The main concern for those that I work with any myself has been the streaming speed of video's on ClickView with frequent buffering, even after updating software.
I don't know if anyone else has had this problem and in previous schools have not encountered this problem.
In June, I was locked out of ClickView one morning simply because too many people had logged on across all schools, but I raised the matter with other schools and it felt like I was the odd one out. Everything seemed fine elsewhere.
Sometimes it seems the problem is resolved, but then a week or two later the cycle starts again.
I have responded at a school level by asking colleagues to keep a log of problems and emailing it to me This can create a paper trail to support the problems that I have.
Being a Commerce trained teacher, I do have awareness of consumer rights and at the end of the day, I will always fight for to ensure what is paid for and is delivered.
Has your school had this problem lately too?
Showing posts with label digital collections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label digital collections. Show all posts
Friday, August 2, 2019
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
PressReader & Zinio
These two media apps are really fascinating me and this summer has given me a real opportunity to play around with both of them.
I have been aware of PressReader for the past five or so years through membership of the State Library of NSW, which lists hundreds of newspapers and magazines in Australia, and thousands globally. These can be viewed on your browser or Ipad.
Now its possible through some libraries (like Sydney City Council) or those flying with Qantas to access these items for free through timed access. Sydney City Council will provide complementary access for seven days from when you first access it at a library branch and on their Wifi network, while if you are flying Qantas, you'll get 12 hours access from up to a day prior to your flight.
When it comes to Australian publications, PressReader has sadly been on a slide. Fairfax has generally removed major publications like The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age from the app and don't generally make their local papers available. News Corp recently made the decision to no longer publish major dallies through the app. Even though users have to pay for an individual issue or for timed use, News Corp seem to be unhappy for some reason - perhaps loss of paid subscribers and/or newsagency sales. Hold on, wouldn't they get a cut from the sale of individual issues or subscriptions that are offered through PressReader? Not the end of the world I think.
It does open up doors though for those who want their foreign magazines or newspapers. For me, I am lured by The Guardian (UK) and The Washington Post (USA), which are amongst the most respected newspapers in the world. You can actually enjoy foreign newspapers and magazines from the comfort of your home.
Zinio is more popular with public libraries which pick the magazines that might interest their clients and make them available to their borrowers. While choices are fewer, it wins out in terms of being able to keep the issues forever, even if you remove them from your iPad or device. Your account is linked to the cloud. PressReader hasn't really got that feature yet. Still figuring out the way to preserve PressReader material.
I don't know any schools that have them, and appears to be cost-prohibitve, but I think we as T/L's and schools need to take a good look at this, especially Zinio where the school can decide which subscriptions are most relevant to the students. Would students embrace it? I think they could especially if they can access it on their device and be able to keep it for life.
I have been aware of PressReader for the past five or so years through membership of the State Library of NSW, which lists hundreds of newspapers and magazines in Australia, and thousands globally. These can be viewed on your browser or Ipad.
Now its possible through some libraries (like Sydney City Council) or those flying with Qantas to access these items for free through timed access. Sydney City Council will provide complementary access for seven days from when you first access it at a library branch and on their Wifi network, while if you are flying Qantas, you'll get 12 hours access from up to a day prior to your flight.
When it comes to Australian publications, PressReader has sadly been on a slide. Fairfax has generally removed major publications like The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age from the app and don't generally make their local papers available. News Corp recently made the decision to no longer publish major dallies through the app. Even though users have to pay for an individual issue or for timed use, News Corp seem to be unhappy for some reason - perhaps loss of paid subscribers and/or newsagency sales. Hold on, wouldn't they get a cut from the sale of individual issues or subscriptions that are offered through PressReader? Not the end of the world I think.
It does open up doors though for those who want their foreign magazines or newspapers. For me, I am lured by The Guardian (UK) and The Washington Post (USA), which are amongst the most respected newspapers in the world. You can actually enjoy foreign newspapers and magazines from the comfort of your home.
Zinio is more popular with public libraries which pick the magazines that might interest their clients and make them available to their borrowers. While choices are fewer, it wins out in terms of being able to keep the issues forever, even if you remove them from your iPad or device. Your account is linked to the cloud. PressReader hasn't really got that feature yet. Still figuring out the way to preserve PressReader material.
I don't know any schools that have them, and appears to be cost-prohibitve, but I think we as T/L's and schools need to take a good look at this, especially Zinio where the school can decide which subscriptions are most relevant to the students. Would students embrace it? I think they could especially if they can access it on their device and be able to keep it for life.
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
The rise of eBook collections (SMH Article)
Last Saturday (16/1/2015), The Sydney Morning Herald did a short feature on the rise of eBook collections in public libraries in Sydney. Sydney City Council now claims to have 10 000 eBooks in its collection.
It also claims that more people are joining libraries in response, encouraged by the convenience of iPads and Kindles as a reading tool, and existing members are borrowing more regularly which is encouraging news.
But the article fails to mention the percentage of eBook loans in comparison to loans of printed items. There are definitely some that have been attracted to borrow because items are now available as eBooks and don't have to lug a printed book around, or is it merely because people want to read something in print? Or perhaps did reading something in a digital form encourage them to pursue reading in a printed format.
Also have loans of printed items increased? We don't get that figure either.
Looking on the positive side, it is good though to see people making use of their local libraries and their collections, while at the same time developing their interest in reading. As I do believe, some are more suited to reading items digitally as opposed to print. Everyone has their style of learning and therefore everyone has their way of reading.
And what if one cannot access that printed copy of a book that they want to read at a particular point in time - at least an electronic version will fill that need, unless they really want that tactile version.
What about in a classroom situation? There will be no longer an excuse to not have bought a book to class, especially if the school library has its own eBook collection. I would be encouraging my students as well to pursue membership of their local library, not just for their digital collections, but also their print collections. Every library in every council area has its own unique collection of books. From holding accounts with four councils, I am often coming across items that are "exclusive" to that collection and have read some very interesting books that I may have not come across. I even want to recommend them for my school library!!! I might make that a challenge for this year in my work.
It also claims that more people are joining libraries in response, encouraged by the convenience of iPads and Kindles as a reading tool, and existing members are borrowing more regularly which is encouraging news.
But the article fails to mention the percentage of eBook loans in comparison to loans of printed items. There are definitely some that have been attracted to borrow because items are now available as eBooks and don't have to lug a printed book around, or is it merely because people want to read something in print? Or perhaps did reading something in a digital form encourage them to pursue reading in a printed format.
Also have loans of printed items increased? We don't get that figure either.
Looking on the positive side, it is good though to see people making use of their local libraries and their collections, while at the same time developing their interest in reading. As I do believe, some are more suited to reading items digitally as opposed to print. Everyone has their style of learning and therefore everyone has their way of reading.
And what if one cannot access that printed copy of a book that they want to read at a particular point in time - at least an electronic version will fill that need, unless they really want that tactile version.
What about in a classroom situation? There will be no longer an excuse to not have bought a book to class, especially if the school library has its own eBook collection. I would be encouraging my students as well to pursue membership of their local library, not just for their digital collections, but also their print collections. Every library in every council area has its own unique collection of books. From holding accounts with four councils, I am often coming across items that are "exclusive" to that collection and have read some very interesting books that I may have not come across. I even want to recommend them for my school library!!! I might make that a challenge for this year in my work.