pafa.net

I’ve been spending a lot of time looking at nursing homes, assisted living centers and senior living centers lately. I’ve seen some wonderful places and some not so wonderful ones. Today, I came across a new concept for skilled nursing homes that blew me away. Green House® homes, skilled nursing homes with a heart.

THE GREEN HOUSE® model creates a small intentional community for a group of elders and staff. It is a place that focuses on life, and its heart is found in the relationships that flourish there…. Its primary purpose is to serve as a place where elders can receive assistance and support with activities of daily living and clinical care, without the assistance and care becoming the focus of their existence… The Green House model is intended to de-institutionalize long-term care by eliminating large nursing facilities and creating habilitative, social settings.

Looking through the photo albums on their web site, these homes really do look like homes and are the polar opposite of what I’ve seen in some nursing homes. Here’s hoping this and similar concepts prove successful and become affordable for all. Dignity in aging. A simple wish.

In something for nothing Aaron Schmidt explains how his library is using Zoho Creator for a handy and effective summer reading program sign up form that is embedded on the library’s web site. After the kids sign up, they’re taken to a page where they can download a reading log and get other info about the program. Very cool. Could be used for many other types of sign up. Free, simple, easy, effective.

As Aaron said: “I’m all for making library services easier to use, but making people’s lives easier is an even better goal.” Couldn’t agree more.

My nephew is writing some wonderful stuff!

Interpreting the Evolution of English - Accents, dialects, slang and how we got from King James to hip-hop swagger.

Reviews of: The Prodigal Tongue, by Mark Abley and By Hook or by Crook, by David Crystal.

By Timothy Farrington, editorial staff of the New Yorker.
Wall Street Journal, June 28, 2008; Page W8

The 2008 Summer Reading photo pool at flickr is growing by leaps and bounds. Tons of great photos of programs, activities, displays and more. Like this great photo from the Newport (OR) Public Library. Take a look at the pool for some fun ideas. And please add your photos too!

p.s. Don’t forget to check out the news on the Summer Reading blog.

Not heading to Anaheim for ALA? That doesn’t mean you have to miss out on everything. LITA’s BIGWIG Social Software Showcase web page already has a number of videos and screencasts of presentations posted to it. There will also be some live webcasts and discussions during the conference. Check the Showcase page for times and details.

Among the many excellent presentations, Jason Griffey’s Video 2.0 and the New Media Revolution really caught my attention. In a delightful bit of recursiveness, Jason presents a video about new video tools that will make virtual participation in meetings, presentations and such much easier. In themselves, they’re very interesting, useful tools. But what happens to privacy when it becomes possible to broadcast anything, anytime, anywhere? How do we process the onslaught of media madness? Jason poses questions about what this media revolution will mean for society and what it means for libraries.

Note from the final section of the video:

We talk a lot in libraries about information literacy. We need to move beyond text. Text led the first media revolution. We need to prepare for the next revolution. You can use these tools to participate in the future of expression. If you don’t, your patrons certinaly will.

Think of how many schools, libraries and other learning organizations block internet video  altogether. Where will they be in this revolution?

Free - if you install it today - June 25, 2008.

Wondershare QuizCreator - a robust Flash quizzing and testing tool
that helps instructors easily create Flash-based quizzes and tests as
online assessments to track and manage learning performance.More than efficient edting, QuizCreator can integrate a variety of
multimedia and interactivity to engage and interact with learners.
Owing to the customized player templates, flexible publishing options
and advanced results tracking and reporting kit, QuizCreator is ideal
to create professional quizzes with little skills and efforts.

Looks useful, though I haven’t had a chance to install it yet.