Social Networking with Scorch in England.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Thing 11: Investigating Instant Messaging
I really thought I had already written a response to Thing 11, but I didn't see it posted. So here it is out of chronological order.
When I was at UK in 1994, I participated in an experiment in virtual reference. My role was as information seeker logging into a MASH--MUSH??--MUD???--a virtual room. A library student in another physical space played librarian. He logged in; we chatted about my question. He was able to actually take over my computer and show me some websites that might have the answers to my question. Later I found out we were the only pair that had success at answering the question. The researcher running the experiment said our success was because of communication style. My librarian asked open ended questions, and I gave good feedback, refusing to be satisfied until my question was truly answered.
IM is faster than email but slower than a telephone conversation. It has it's own code and abbreviations. It has a spontaneity that you don't get in email. I haven't used it much since I graduated from college. But then I am a troglodyte who still hasn't subscribed to cable television and rarely checks her personal email. (Yup, last time I looked I had 999 new messages. I think I will shut that account down and start a new one).
When I was at UK in 1994, I participated in an experiment in virtual reference. My role was as information seeker logging into a MASH--MUSH??--MUD???--a virtual room. A library student in another physical space played librarian. He logged in; we chatted about my question. He was able to actually take over my computer and show me some websites that might have the answers to my question. Later I found out we were the only pair that had success at answering the question. The researcher running the experiment said our success was because of communication style. My librarian asked open ended questions, and I gave good feedback, refusing to be satisfied until my question was truly answered.
IM is faster than email but slower than a telephone conversation. It has it's own code and abbreviations. It has a spontaneity that you don't get in email. I haven't used it much since I graduated from college. But then I am a troglodyte who still hasn't subscribed to cable television and rarely checks her personal email. (Yup, last time I looked I had 999 new messages. I think I will shut that account down and start a new one).
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Thing 16: Journey into MySpace
WebSense, the City of Va. Beach's filtering software, intruded more in MySpace then in any other Learning 2.0 assignment to date. I could not load a photo because my java client was out of date, and all attempts by MySpace to load the right software were blocked by WebSense. When one of my potential Friends emailed that she wanted to be my Friend, WebSense blocked my adding her. My popularity suffers.
That said, my eureka moment was discovering my high school, Princess Anne High, had 5 MySpace group pages. And looking through them I found someone I actually remembered fondly from those tortuous years. I am not sure he will recognize "Library Dragon" with no photo, but hey, it was fun looking at his picture.
When I can get up with my more web savvy co-workers, I will see if he/she can help me work around the photo upload glitch. In the meantime, I successfully added my potential friend by going in through my home page in MySpace. I have a Friend!!! Other than the generic Tom who is busy, away, and not taking emails. : )
That said, my eureka moment was discovering my high school, Princess Anne High, had 5 MySpace group pages. And looking through them I found someone I actually remembered fondly from those tortuous years. I am not sure he will recognize "Library Dragon" with no photo, but hey, it was fun looking at his picture.
When I can get up with my more web savvy co-workers, I will see if he/she can help me work around the photo upload glitch. In the meantime, I successfully added my potential friend by going in through my home page in MySpace. I have a Friend!!! Other than the generic Tom who is busy, away, and not taking emails. : )
Monday, December 10, 2007
Thing 15: Get the 411 on Social Networking
This week in our Learning 2.0 class, we are exploring online social networks or OSNs such as MySpace and Facebook. My gut feeling is that the library really needs a presence in the social network, simply beacuse that is where the teens are. If we want to reach them, interact with them, we need to be where they are and to use the tools they use. If we aren't there, they won't think to use us. We will become the last resort rather than the first place they think of for information.
Some other thoughts on the assignment...
I liked the Cornell University policy for Facebook. It reminded me how a year and a half ago, I googled one of our potential SRP performers and found his entry on a dating website where he described what he looked for in a potential date. TMI.
The Business Week article hammered home how so many online resources make their money from sponsorships and advertising; it makes you wonder if they can be unbiased.
As for online predators, they are out there...and they are walking around on the streets as well. We can't keep them out the cyberworld anymore than we can keep them out of our buildings. All we can do is educate parents and teens (and tweens) about the dangers and the precautions.
That is my two cents...now let's see if ComIT will let me set up a Facebook account. : )
Some other thoughts on the assignment...
I liked the Cornell University policy for Facebook. It reminded me how a year and a half ago, I googled one of our potential SRP performers and found his entry on a dating website where he described what he looked for in a potential date. TMI.
The Business Week article hammered home how so many online resources make their money from sponsorships and advertising; it makes you wonder if they can be unbiased.
As for online predators, they are out there...and they are walking around on the streets as well. We can't keep them out the cyberworld anymore than we can keep them out of our buildings. All we can do is educate parents and teens (and tweens) about the dangers and the precautions.
That is my two cents...now let's see if ComIT will let me set up a Facebook account. : )
Monday, December 3, 2007
Thing 14: Adding content to the VBPL Reader's Advisory Wiki
Adding content to the VBPL Reader's Advisory wiki was kind of fun. First, I went into the books to movie list and added Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising and Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass. Then I did the assigned, add two titles to the staff picks page. My picks were: Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards! and The Daring Book for Girls, which I just bought my niece for Christmas. Then, I found myself wanting to rearrange the page by reading level and genre. But I didn't. So far so good.
Adding tags was not as simple as it is on my Shelfari page. I had to search "help" and even then I tagged the list, not the title, so I am not sure I did it right. I would have liked to tag just the books themselves.
Finally, I had font issues. I wrote my blurb for The Daring Book for Girls in Word so that I could run the spell check. When I cut and pasted it into the list, I realized the font was too large. I had to play with sizes to find one that looked right. Maybe if I had pasted it into notepad first? Stripped it of all mark up language?
This is a learning process...if you don't make mistakes, you aren't pushing yourself. : )
Adding tags was not as simple as it is on my Shelfari page. I had to search "help" and even then I tagged the list, not the title, so I am not sure I did it right. I would have liked to tag just the books themselves.
Finally, I had font issues. I wrote my blurb for The Daring Book for Girls in Word so that I could run the spell check. When I cut and pasted it into the list, I realized the font was too large. I had to play with sizes to find one that looked right. Maybe if I had pasted it into notepad first? Stripped it of all mark up language?
This is a learning process...if you don't make mistakes, you aren't pushing yourself. : )
Thing 13: Learning about Wikis
Today in Library 2.0 we are learning about wikis and looking at how they have been used in libraries. Of the samples we were given, I liked how wikis were used for 1) book reviews/discussions (like BookLovers Wiki), 2) conference sharing, and 3) program idea sharing. I could see VBPL using a wiki any time collaborative work needs to be done, for example, the SRP team could use one to share ideas for programs, publicity, sponsorships, etc. We could also create group specific wikis for our patrons to discuss their interests: the Otaku Anime Club could create one defining and discussing the different characters/genres of anime, the garden club could create one to share information about growing plants in Hampton Roads, we could even have an old movie wiki...but maybe I am going overboard and recreating the wheel? hmmn...I need to find out what is already out there and being used by these groups. Will let you know what I found out in Thing 14...
Things 9 & 10: Feeds
In March Nicole McGee did a short "RSS Feeds" workshop at Princess Anne Area Library during which we learned how to set up an RSS feed reader using Bloglines and subscribe to feeds. I played with it for a few weeks, adding feeds for book reviews, cooking, the local news, weather, and other interests. Finding a feed for my co-workers blog, Sara's Hold Shelf, was the highlight for me. Then work became busy, and my account went unchecked until the Library 2.0 Thing 9 assignment. When I finally recalled the password, I discovered I had over 800 unread postings. Surprisingly, some feeds had little or no new postings. One had a notice that it had been officially discontinued.
One of the reasons my Bloglines account went unused for so long is that after wading through all my email, I don't really feel like looking at another page of input. My unassigned time is spent responding to email and doing tasks--I don't feel I have the time to just read at my desk. However, as blogs are created containing more job specific content (VBPL Talks, Readers Advisory, etc) , I may start opening my Bloglines reader everyday.
One of the reasons my Bloglines account went unused for so long is that after wading through all my email, I don't really feel like looking at another page of input. My unassigned time is spent responding to email and doing tasks--I don't feel I have the time to just read at my desk. However, as blogs are created containing more job specific content (VBPL Talks, Readers Advisory, etc) , I may start opening my Bloglines reader everyday.
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