LIS 9763

1.    Has your view of social software changed since starting this course? If so, how?

To be honest apart from blogs, Facebook and Myspace I wasn’t really sure what social software was.  This course introduced me to RSS, Delicious, Tweeting and Flickr just to name a few.  So yes, my view has changed completely.  I would say that I have a better understanding of the programs, how they work and how they can be applied in a library setting.

2.    Of all the social tools we've reviewed this term, what are your "favourite" tools for libraries and why? What would you consider to be the low-hanging fruit, i.e. the tools that could be implemented easily and with the greatest impact?
My favourite tools for libraries are Delicious (and other social bookmarking tools, and blogs.  I like delicious because it allows users to decide what is relevant to them and to catalogue it in a way that makes sense to them.  I like blogs because they are informal and they can draw many of the tools we learned about together into a nice neat package.

3.    Tell us about your personal experiences with the social software tools we’ve used & looked at this term. Which tools have worked for you, which haven’t? 
I found that RSS feeds, blogs and the bookmarking sites are all things that I am going to be using for myself going forward.  However, Flickr and YouTube I just can’t seem to get into.  I’ll watch YouTube sometimes (actually I have one book talk on there now) but Flickr doesn’t do it for me.

4.    How has the distance ed. experience been for you?
I thought I would have difficulty organizing my time for this course but that wasn’t the case.  I liked that the weekly assignment was posted on the weekend.  The only really challenging thing was the group assignment.  Using a wiki to organize it was helpful and using chatting software to communicate was okay but a little trying.

5.    Do you have any suggestions for improving the learning experience of this course? (e.g. readings, weekly activities, assignments, etc.) (be honest, I can take it!)
Nope.  It was just right.

6.    How would you sum up your experience over the past 13 weeks?
I learned a lot and got to rant and give my opinion a lot too.  I learned what my classmates were thinking about more than I would in any other class because we don’t usually have the time to participate as much.  Since I started with little to no knowledge on this topic the learning curve was very steep but the readings and assigned reflections were beneficial to my understanding of the topics.  Also looking at case studies was a great way to see these things in action.  Thanks everyone, I learned a lot!