Between studying for Comps, keeping up with homework, and working on a big project for work, I managed to squeeze in some time to check out the rest of the "23 Things." Here is my final evaluation.
The "23 Things" really opened my eyes to how information is evolving in format and in use. Social networking is changing how we form and maintain relationships. A person can create a blog with a main focus. They can connect their Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr accounts to it so people who read their blog, people who they may have never met if it wasn't for the blog, can communicate with them and follow them to see what they are up to.
People can now collaborate and communicate from a distance with tools like wikis and GoogleDocs. These tools allow for people to meet and work on projects without having to meet face to face. Students and workers alike can utilize these tools to cut down on travel time and to get projects accomplished.
Speaking of students, they can now utilize tools such as Facebook, podcasts, Flickr, PictureTrail, and Flicks to enrich their presentations. Digital media is allowing for students to take information they are learning in their classes and share that information in new and creative ways.
Libraries are getting in on the action too! By utilizing such services as LibraryThing and social tagging in their catalogs, libraries are allowing their users to make and share their own connections through literature as well as providing a service that will help their library users find not only the information they are looking for but new and relevant information they did not know about but may need.
With my focus in library school being Young Adult Services, I couldn't help but enjoy reading about libraries and gaming. This is a big draw for teens when libraries hold gaming nights. My library does it and I think it's a great idea! It gets teens in the door. Then it's the librarian's job to show them what their library has to offer. Not too mention all the Guitar Hero you get to play for free!!! (on a sad note, I recently came across an article that stated one of my state senators was trying to cut funding for gaming in libraries because it was "unneccessary and a waste of money." I wonder if he ever used the library as a teen, yet alone now as a senator and grown man...)
I've personally found del.icio.us to be a very helpful service because it allows me to collect helpful articles I come across through my research. I have them all in one place and can share them and find more through this service!
All in all, I really enjoyed my journey through the "23 Things." I think that when used with a purpose, they can make life a lot less complicated and projects a lot more interesting looking! However, I think we, as users, need to discuss and contemplate the implications using these services brings. What of privacy and confidentiality? How will that effect a library's policies and procedures regarding Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr? How can we fund gaming in the library when budget cuts are hanging over our heads? I think these are great tools that when used for individual use, need to be used carefully and with a purpose. However, when being used by a library, careful consideration and development of policies need to be addressed before implementation.
And that's my thoughts on "23 Things!" Back to studying for Comps!
Showing posts with label wikis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wikis. Show all posts
Oct 10, 2009
Sep 20, 2009
Wikis and the Magic of LibraryThing
So I realized that I'm lagging behind on my 23 Things postings so here goes nothing...
I am fairly familiar with wikis. I've used three of the most commonly used sites in creating wikis: PBwiki, Wetpaint, and FrontPage. I prefer Wetpaint but that's just my personal preference. I started out by playing around with a wiki in one of my classes. We had to sign up for assignments on the wiki. It was fairly easy to use and understand. I ended up liking it so much, I used it in another class as a way to collaborate with my group members without having to drive somewhere and cordinate schedules. They save me time and money!!!
I currently created one for a professional organization I have become a part of. Many of the members of this organization were not familiar with wikis. I did a sort of training for them, found how-to videos on YouTube, and set everything up so that all they had to do was sign up and join the wiki. It's been a really big hit! It has cut down on actual meetings we have to set up. It's a great tool for collaborating at a distance. I think it can easily be utilized in the classroom as well. Group projects, student assignments...you name it and it can probably be done on a wiki.
Now, before about a month ago, I was not too familiar with LibraryThing. I knew it was a website that allowed people to review books and create their own tagging of those titles. Recently, my library invested in LibraryThing tags and titles for our catalog. It was a great move because many of our customers have found these helpful. However, I think there is room for improvement. I am an avid Young Adult fiction reader. Because YA fiction is now becoming a booming industry, no one is really sure how to label the books other than Young Adult. Titles such as Hunger Games and Life As We Knew It are listed in similar categories as Twilight and Harry Potter. This is not because they have similar elements but because they are all popular YA fiction novels. LibraryThing needs to address that YA is not the only tag to place on these books. Since the tags are user-generated, we as readers need to put more thought into our tagging of titles, particularly YA titles.
I am fairly familiar with wikis. I've used three of the most commonly used sites in creating wikis: PBwiki, Wetpaint, and FrontPage. I prefer Wetpaint but that's just my personal preference. I started out by playing around with a wiki in one of my classes. We had to sign up for assignments on the wiki. It was fairly easy to use and understand. I ended up liking it so much, I used it in another class as a way to collaborate with my group members without having to drive somewhere and cordinate schedules. They save me time and money!!!
I currently created one for a professional organization I have become a part of. Many of the members of this organization were not familiar with wikis. I did a sort of training for them, found how-to videos on YouTube, and set everything up so that all they had to do was sign up and join the wiki. It's been a really big hit! It has cut down on actual meetings we have to set up. It's a great tool for collaborating at a distance. I think it can easily be utilized in the classroom as well. Group projects, student assignments...you name it and it can probably be done on a wiki.
Now, before about a month ago, I was not too familiar with LibraryThing. I knew it was a website that allowed people to review books and create their own tagging of those titles. Recently, my library invested in LibraryThing tags and titles for our catalog. It was a great move because many of our customers have found these helpful. However, I think there is room for improvement. I am an avid Young Adult fiction reader. Because YA fiction is now becoming a booming industry, no one is really sure how to label the books other than Young Adult. Titles such as Hunger Games and Life As We Knew It are listed in similar categories as Twilight and Harry Potter. This is not because they have similar elements but because they are all popular YA fiction novels. LibraryThing needs to address that YA is not the only tag to place on these books. Since the tags are user-generated, we as readers need to put more thought into our tagging of titles, particularly YA titles.
Sep 19, 2009
Encyclomedia, Twitter Ninjas, and More 23 Things...
So this week was incredibly busy for me, thus the really late blog post. This week was the two day annual conference called Encyclomedia. Teachers, librarians, counselors, authors, illustrators and the like get together to talk about new tools and trends in education. I always love going to this conference because I get to catch up with people I don't get to see to often from classes, former coworkers, and in my case, family members who I love to see!
This year, there seemed to be a big movement towards Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. Almost every presentation I went to this year was presented on a wiki. I thought this was a great move because many of the people presenting were from different areas of the state and wikis are a great way for them to collaborate without wasting gas! However, because the presentations were on wikis and many of the people attending were not familiar with wikis, a lot of time was taken away from the presentation because they had to explain what it was and how they set it up. I know I probably sound like a snob in bringing this up but it was frustrating to go to a presentation on new ways to promote the YA collection and having to stop and take 25 minutes of an hour long presentation to explain what a wiki was and how the presenters set up their presentation on it. If you want to know what one is, go to the presentation on wikis and don't detract from the current presentation!!!
One presentation I attended was called Twitter Ninjas and discussed the Twitter craze that has been catching on more and more these days. The presenter talked about how it can be used as both a personal and professional tool and the benefits of both. Now, personally I've never understood the need for Twitter. A 140 character message sent to everyone about what I'm eating or that I'm sitting on the couch watching the latest episode of Lost does not seem worth it to me. However, in this presentation I learned how Twitter can be used as a tool of customer service. Through using Tweetdeck, customers can tweet in their problems or concerns and whoever is monitoring the account can respond to them and help them out. I could see this being used on the reference desk or inter-departmentally (is that even a word???).
Twitter, to me, seems like a very massive text messaging service. People can sign up and follow your account. From your phone, you can send a mass message to everyone about anything, as long as it fits in 140 characters. This could be a very powerful tool to use in promoting a business, particularly a library. I know my library has a Twitter account that is used to promote jobs and programs. Now I'm wondering how we can take it further. But with this type of thinking, I'm wondering how we manage that. Will the library start paying for all of the text messages? Will we be compensated for our Twittering, because 10 cents a text ain't cheap!
All of this Twitter text messaging talk made me think about other forms of communication. I grew up in the days of snail mail. when receiving a letter in the mail was something to get excited about. Now, I impatiently check my iphone for any new email. I have my Facebook account on my phone to see if I have any new messages several times a day. I text rather than talk. Communication is changing, shifting into a more constant, detached form of connection. We share anything and everything on our Facebook accounts. Pictures on Flicker, Twitter with strangers... all to reach out to the world and feel more connected. Even blogging is an attempt to communicate with the world from a safe, familiar place. But our we really as safe as we think? Are we really as connected as we like to think we are? Do we ever see the people on the other side of our communications? Do we really share who we are?
I feel as we become more "connected" with the rest of the world, we wade further and further into unknown territory. I mentioned above how my library has a Facebook and Twitter account. More and more businesses are adopting this technology for their own uses. However, as we become more familiar with this technology, we have to consider the implications of what this all could mean. Policies have to be put in place to protect ourselves, our employees, and everyone involved. It's ironic to think about but as we become more "free" in our communications we become more restricted in our limitations of what we can do with it. This would probably be a good debate for my Comps!
Shifting gears, I'd like to mention the RSS feeds I subscribed to this week. My library just started using RSS feeds to promote the new items in the collection. I subscribed immediately to all my favorite catagories: Young Adult, Movies, Music, Mystery, and the latest news on what's going on in the system. I use Google Reader which was easy to set up and customize. This is an excellent way to keep up on all of my blogs that I read and all the new materials and activities going on at work.
Well, I need to go study and read Dan Brown's new book The Lost Symbol. Until next time...
This year, there seemed to be a big movement towards Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. Almost every presentation I went to this year was presented on a wiki. I thought this was a great move because many of the people presenting were from different areas of the state and wikis are a great way for them to collaborate without wasting gas! However, because the presentations were on wikis and many of the people attending were not familiar with wikis, a lot of time was taken away from the presentation because they had to explain what it was and how they set it up. I know I probably sound like a snob in bringing this up but it was frustrating to go to a presentation on new ways to promote the YA collection and having to stop and take 25 minutes of an hour long presentation to explain what a wiki was and how the presenters set up their presentation on it. If you want to know what one is, go to the presentation on wikis and don't detract from the current presentation!!!
One presentation I attended was called Twitter Ninjas and discussed the Twitter craze that has been catching on more and more these days. The presenter talked about how it can be used as both a personal and professional tool and the benefits of both. Now, personally I've never understood the need for Twitter. A 140 character message sent to everyone about what I'm eating or that I'm sitting on the couch watching the latest episode of Lost does not seem worth it to me. However, in this presentation I learned how Twitter can be used as a tool of customer service. Through using Tweetdeck, customers can tweet in their problems or concerns and whoever is monitoring the account can respond to them and help them out. I could see this being used on the reference desk or inter-departmentally (is that even a word???).
Twitter, to me, seems like a very massive text messaging service. People can sign up and follow your account. From your phone, you can send a mass message to everyone about anything, as long as it fits in 140 characters. This could be a very powerful tool to use in promoting a business, particularly a library. I know my library has a Twitter account that is used to promote jobs and programs. Now I'm wondering how we can take it further. But with this type of thinking, I'm wondering how we manage that. Will the library start paying for all of the text messages? Will we be compensated for our Twittering, because 10 cents a text ain't cheap!
All of this Twitter text messaging talk made me think about other forms of communication. I grew up in the days of snail mail. when receiving a letter in the mail was something to get excited about. Now, I impatiently check my iphone for any new email. I have my Facebook account on my phone to see if I have any new messages several times a day. I text rather than talk. Communication is changing, shifting into a more constant, detached form of connection. We share anything and everything on our Facebook accounts. Pictures on Flicker, Twitter with strangers... all to reach out to the world and feel more connected. Even blogging is an attempt to communicate with the world from a safe, familiar place. But our we really as safe as we think? Are we really as connected as we like to think we are? Do we ever see the people on the other side of our communications? Do we really share who we are?
I feel as we become more "connected" with the rest of the world, we wade further and further into unknown territory. I mentioned above how my library has a Facebook and Twitter account. More and more businesses are adopting this technology for their own uses. However, as we become more familiar with this technology, we have to consider the implications of what this all could mean. Policies have to be put in place to protect ourselves, our employees, and everyone involved. It's ironic to think about but as we become more "free" in our communications we become more restricted in our limitations of what we can do with it. This would probably be a good debate for my Comps!
Shifting gears, I'd like to mention the RSS feeds I subscribed to this week. My library just started using RSS feeds to promote the new items in the collection. I subscribed immediately to all my favorite catagories: Young Adult, Movies, Music, Mystery, and the latest news on what's going on in the system. I use Google Reader which was easy to set up and customize. This is an excellent way to keep up on all of my blogs that I read and all the new materials and activities going on at work.
Well, I need to go study and read Dan Brown's new book The Lost Symbol. Until next time...
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