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

Two main philosophies strike me when I thin of social software:

 I believe that librarians can no longer sit behind reference desk or sit in offices and assume that their users will just “find” them.  I think that librarians need to leave the comfort of their library and interact with their community at large.  This may mean that they need to actively participate with their faculty or departments and get information literacy into the curriculum or by performing programming in shelters and seniors centers.  In the same instance, the online community is also important and librarians need to leave the comfort of their own we

I'm taking my second blog holiday this week.  I'll probably still comment, but no blog from me!
Tara

       Our assignment this week was to create a prototype that could demonstrate the usefulness of social media.

I am currently in the middle Grown Up Digital written by Don Tapscott (Wikinomics).  The book is the result of a $4 million dollar research project that aims to describe the "Net Generation" and how they will effect Education, Workforce, Consumers, Family, and Democracy.  The "Net Generation" is defined as current 11-30 year old that have grown up with computers and the Internet.  While this would make the generation unique it is more important to note that this generation out numbers the baby boomers (most significantly in the US).  Thi

I think that the biggest reason for libraries to be aware of and be active in social networking was reported just this Monday.  On Monday, Nielsen Online reported that blogs and social networking are consuming more online time than checking and writing personal email.  Ok, this does not have to be a large deal, but it does show that there is a large amount of people participating in social networking.  This environment is also free and fairly easy for libraries to insert themselves into as show by our case studies.  Social networking sites such as Facebook and myspace mo

Thanks for the chat last night...but I'm taking a blog holiday this week.
Tara

On another note, I'm taking another course where we discuss information seeking behaviour of users (consumers).  It strikes me that if tags get well used (e.g. in LibraryThing) there is the potential for librarians to use those tags as a way to understand how consumers view their inforamtion, learn from those metatags, and improve or adjust our services to them.