LIS 9763

At the end of this course my view hasn’t changed that much.  Most of the readings I had already read as I have been interesting in this topic for the last four years.  It was interesting to see how everyone else interpreted the tools and philosophies behind social software (web 2.0 or the read/write web).  Of the eight tools we looked at, I think that online social networks would be the “low-hanging” fruit because of the popularity and familiarity with staff.  I believe that the most important step with implementing new tools or change is to have staff on board.  With social networking I think most staff members have an account, or at least have heard about Facebook (or MySpace).  They may already have examples of positive experiences with groups using Facebook successfully.

The tools with the least potential would probably be…different for each group within the library.  Trying to get public library users to actively participate in using a wiki would be fairly difficult because wikis still have a bit of a barrier for use (there is still some coding/knowledge needed to use them).  For library staff, I don’t see a lot of buy-in for creating Youtube videos to share the library with Youtube consumers.  For the general public I don’t see a lot of understanding for gaming and virtual worlds, even if there are 11.5 million unique user accounts for World of Warcraft I think many people have forgotten or are repressing their gaming side because “it’s not appropriate.”  I also look forward to reading about new research about what gamers are actually learning when they play.  The newest report I just heard about was about how action games increase night vision and improve “lazy” eyes more quickly.

I love distance courses!  I can work on them at 11pm or whenever I have time.  I don’t find a problem with being at a distance for group work as there are now so many tools that can be used for collaborative work (Google Docs, wikis, Delicious, Skype, and chat) that communicating isn’t really a problem.  Just like all groups you do have to ensure that there are no misunderstandings and that each individual compromises to get to the best possible final project out of the group.  If compromises don’t happen from everyone or misunderstandings occur, then resentment can build.

To improve this course I would have liked to see the philosophies behind social software in weeks 1/2 before the actual tools.  I think that this way the ideas/philosophy behind the tools could have been more visible while working with each of the tools.  I also would have preferred a more focused discussion question for each week.