LIS 9763

There are a couple themes that emerged in the weekly readings.  The first is that social media can be dangerous because it is deregulated. The second is that social media increases the workload of the librarian. The third is that advertising & publicity are not “dirty words.” The fourth is the idea of branding, individual or institutional. And the fifth and final is the perception of social media as a traditionally “geeky” pursuit.

     I find it very interesting that the readings this week had a surprisingly narrow focus—on Flickr and YouTube to the exclusion of almost everything else.  YouTube is clearly the juggernaut here, as it’s hard to see how it CAN’T be used for educational purposes.  The obvious benefits of personal instruction on specific tasks are easily applicable in a library setting.  Instead of having to attend a tour or ask a librarian for assistance, patrons can watch tutorials on interacting with library systems.  From there, it’s a sma

     Many years ago (almost a decade), I learned of the existence of an online virtual world called Habbo Hotel.  A cursory Wikipedia search reveals that the site is still in operation, although it is not only popular in North America.  When I first came across the, I was a member of a less-than-savoury internet message board whose chief priority was pranking other online communities.  An “invasion” of Habbo Hotel followed, wherein myself and other members of the board created accounts named GenoXXXX (where the “XXXX” was a random 4

     Two years ago, I posted an entry on my blog where I worried about the ramifications of Facebook and other such online networking sites.  My worry was that they further reduce the already shrinking sphere of privacy we are allotted in a modern, digital era.  Facebook, MySpace, IM software, message boards and other online communities all post updates about user statuses (online, offline, away, busy, etc.), allowing one user to track the activities of another.  

Folksonomies fascinate me. As I alluded to in my last blog post, I'm concerned with the interplay between the widespread implementation of folksonomies and their small-scale use.  The two seem to be mutually exclusive, since folksonomies by definition are user-generated taxonomies and users will phrase concepts in specific forms depending on a wide range of factors (culture, location, upbringing, age, socioeconomic status, profession, creed, etc.).

     One of the comments that most appealed to me from this week’s readings was from Lee Rainie’s article, where he mentioned the idea that persons who use similar or identical keywords or tags most likely share deep commonalities. As usual, I see forms of social networking like tagging as being most useful in localized, contextualized spaces. Tagging functions to patch together a rough community based on identifying and grouping like viewpoints, but in two very different manners.  

     I’ve been a fan of wiki software for some time now, having used it both for school and my own personal interests. I’m happy to see that interest in the media is finally taking off. Hopefully it’ll see more widespread use in schools as it is potentially one of the best collaborative systems of information sharing on the internet.

I appreciate the convenience offered by RSS feeds—I use them constantly to stay abreast of current affairs, and they were invaluable during the lead-up to the American election as I could separate the articles that interested me from those that didn’t without ever having to peruse them. But it is this very same convenience that worries me.
 

My name is Rob Whitfield. I'm originally from the Kitchener/Waterloo area where I did a Philosophy degree at Laurier. This is my second term at Western and my first distance ed course. I've always had a passing interest in online social tools, but I'd never really had an opportunity to pursue that interest until now. I'm looking forward to the course, and the very unusual structure we seem to be using (I, for one, have never blogged for school).