LIS 9763

Hello everyone,

I find it incredible to believe that the semester is already over.  I have learned so much from this course that I'm not sure that I can condense it all into one blog post, but I'll do my best.  My view of social software has changed significantly since the beginning of this semester.  At the start of the semester I knew how to use facebook (minimally), but now I know how to use, and am not frightened by, all kinds of different web 2.0 social software applications. 
I think that my two favourite tools covered this semester were online social networks and wikis.  I think that in many ways they are both some of the most powerful web 2.0 social software tools that libraries could implement.  This is primarily because both tools foster communication paths between multiple users and they allow for the building of corporate knowledge.  I think that these types of capabilities are particularly helpful in large libraries, library networks, or among library branches.  Although social networks and wikis have different interfaces and functions, I think that they can both be used for the building of corporate knowledge (e.g. social networks often use blog posts) and for communication among many people (e.g. wikis often track changes by the users who made them). 
I think that the social software tool that probably has the least potential for libraries, from a practical perspective is gaming and virtual worlds.  The use of such technology is a "fun" idea, but I think that it is a little impractical because in my opinion gaming takes a certain amount of skill and not all library users have these skills.  I think those libraries that use Second Life, for example, to provide a virtual library tour could be marginalizing some users who are perhaps of a generation that don't like to game or simply aren't interested in learning how just for the sake of a tour.  Another problem that I think of when it comes to virtual tours through gaming, which is how gaming technology is often used in libraries, is that the game is only a representation of the library, there are no real photos of the building.  I prefer the method of offering a podcast or a series of photos to provide a virutual tour of library facilities.

Overall, my understanding of web 2.0 social software tools has improved greatly over the semester.  With that said, the ones that I found easiest to catch onto were: blogging, wikiks, social bookmarking & tagging, online social networks, and media sharing.  These tools, for some reason, just seemed easier to use for someone like me who was not at all "tech-savy" before the semester started.  I found RSS feeds, folksonomines, and gaming and virtual worlds a little bit more challenging.  I can't describe exactly why I found these more challenging to learn about or work with except to say that they were the most foreign topics covered in this course (to me) based on my lack of previous experience with them.

The distance-ed experience was very positive for me.  I think that is actually the most appropriate method of running this class due to the nature of the material.  If forces students to become comfortable with web 2.0 social software quickly because it is the best way of communicating for the class...not to mention the compulsary blogs that we write and the weekly chat.  I had a very posotive experience with the course's online format.

In terms of possible ways to improve the class, I don't have any definitive responses because my experience was positive.  However, when I did my undergrad at Guelph I took a few distance-ed courses and instead of using blogs to communicate they used a discussion group format.  The discussions were not live in the sense that everyone had to discuss at the same time, but that people could write a message and then post it, similar to a blog, and people could respond to it later.  I suppose the only real difference between this class' blog format and the discussion group format is that students have the opportunity to discuss topics within groups that are smaller than the overall class size.  This is not a "better" way to run the course, but it is a different way.

If I had to sum up the past 13 weeks, without reiterating everything that I learned, I would say that this course provided challenging, informative, and practical lessons that taught me practical skills that I can use in my career as an information professional.  I also really enjoyed the fact that this course not only broadened my knowledge towards current trends in web 2.0 social software, but that it opened my eyes to what might be 'coming down the pipe' for the future of libraries.  The case studies of libraries' uses of social software was particularly appreciated.  I think that this class is very practical and that providing examples of libraries that are using the technology that we discuss in class helped me to invision different applications for the same technology.

One last note that I would make is that I really enjoyed the people that I worked with on the group project and I wish them & the rest of the class a wonderful break before the summer semester!

Signing out,
Kristen