The Beginning In The End....

This may be the end of this incredible library course but this is just the beginning of the blog posts, status updates, and tweets in my Library 2.0 life.  Hope to see you all again in various aspects of the digital world!

Second Life

A (re)slice of life online, part four: Howard's Second Life Office 

by Howard Rheingold

I really enjoyed this video, Rheingold was very interesting to watch and quite funny.  I really loved his virtual office and the graphics were pretty good.  His office actually made me think of that video game Sim City.  I like how as he moves around the second life office and clicks on the walls how it links to videos, pictures, blogs, learning communities and wiki's. The part that made me laugh out loud is when was making his avatar move and he said, "Standing up puts me on top of the chair but its digital so I don't mind."  Overall, this was a cool video and I'm going to watch the other in the series to see how he made his second life office.

Video Games in Libraries

The Case for Video Games in Libraries by Suellen Adams.  I like how in this article it does talk about some libraries hesitance to allow game play but then it says on page 199,
"A search for gaming on the American Library Association Web site (www.ala.org) leads to a plethora of resources about using games in libraries.  The primary focus of the materials is in using game tournaments or video game clubs to bring young adults into the library.  These programs are valuable in a variety of ways, but they are really only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the ways games could be used in the library."
I find peoples hesitance funny especially when the ALA promotes game use and acknowledges it importance in gaining younger patrons.  But like Adams says, the way in which the ALA promotes game use is the beginning of how video games could be utilized within the library setting.  Games are fun but they can be educational as well so why not use them for patron outreach.

Privacy and Technology

Online social networking sites and privacy: Revisiting ethical considerations for a new generation of technology by Peter Fernandez. I actually referenced this article a lot in my literture review. In this article Fernandez says, "By creating a profile on these sites, libraries also risk further legitimizing them, and encouraging users to be passive regarding their own privacy. If libraries take a comprehensive view of privacy as a core value, encouraging their users to use products that do not have the same regard for privacy should give librarians pause. Furthermore, it raises the issue of the role that libraries should play in actively promoting awareness about the privacy issues inherent to these systems." This is a situation in which Libraries are seen as an authority within the information field and if we are seen using social media then it is assumed by our patrons and others among the public that the Library Institution thinks that it is safe. This once again makes the need of Information Literacy Instruction important. When implementing a new outreach program there are going to be difficulties but it is finding a professional way in which to navigate these difficulties that matter. This use of social media not only allows libraries outreach into the community but a way to create other programs that correlate with their use.

Privacy and Generation Y

Privacy and Generation Y: Applying Library Values to Social Networking Sites by Peter Fernandez. This is also an article that I used for my literature review. In it Fernandez says, "In the digital age, potential threats to privacy have expanded, and questions of privacy must be considered in situations where confidentiality is no longer such a clear concern. Traditional statements about privacy make it clear that it would be a problem if, for instance, a patron’s confidential conversations with a librarian were being monitored without the patron’s consent within a SNS." Privacy is not something that we really think about until it is invaded. But as librarians it has always been a part of are code to make sure that people's privacy is protected. But Fernandez is right in our day and age it has become more and more difficult to protect peoples privacy. Partially due to thie persons ignorance when it comes to social networking safety but from others out with the intent to invade their privacy. It is our job to keep the information that our patrons provide us with safe and this task has become increasingly difficult with social media outreach.

Balancing Outreach and Privacy in Facebook

Balancing Outreach and Privacy in Facebook: Five Guiding Decisions Point by Peter Fernandez. This is actually an article that I used in my literature review. In no way does Fernandez say that it is easy to balance outreach and privacy but in all reality embarking on something new is never easy. He talks about how there are many people utilizing Facebook. In the article he says, "Facebook interactions raises a host of questions for libraries such as how to handle potentially hateful speech, to relatively simple things, like what to do if patrons post false, or otherwise problematic information to the site. When a library allows or encourages its patrons to contribute to any part of its site within Facebook, that information will also be tied to the patrons Facebook profile. As a result, the library has an ethical obligation to be aware of potential abuses, and determine how it want to regulate interaction that occur on its site." This quote makes me think about how in school libraries have to protect our students identities from others and that by having our patrons Facebook pages linked to ares can lead to others looking at their page. This would make the need for us to educate our patrons on privacy settings all the more important. Overall, I like this article and felt that this author had a lot of relevent things to say on the subject.

Power of Play

Percolating the Power of Play by Sarah Faye Cohen, Timothy Miner, and Laurent Nishikawa. I really enjoyed this article especially the collaboration aspect. Libraries are about outreach and by uniting with the Computer Gaming Design Program and it's students the library is now able to interact with it's patrons in a more relatable way. I highly recommend using games as a way of teaching and reinforcing a skill. Like the article says it is not an easy process to create a game that incorporates all of the Information Literacy (IL) aspects. Ultimately, one must determine which facets of IL need to be emphasized and then integrate them into the game. In the end, I believe that games are a great way of learning and I actually use them in my classroom as well.

LibraryLaw Blog

LibraryLaw Blog

This blog was really great I especially enjoyed reading the post from June 29, 2011 entitled "What libraries can do when they buy an ebook".  My school district does not have the money currently to implement a program in which ebooks can be taken out so it was interesting to read what the legalities are of utilizing an electronic book. It makes sense that if you buy one regular copy of a book then only one patron can use it at a time.  Therefore if you buy one copy of an ebook then once again only one patron should be able use that copy at a time as well.  It is not worth infringing on the ebooks copy right at $750 - $30,000 per title or up to $150,000 if you did it even when you knew the rules.  It is important as a librarian to keep up with the various laws that pertain to us and fair use.  I think that this Blog could be very useful to me now and in the future.

Facebook in Academic Libraries

Academic Libraries, Facebook and Myspace, and Student Outreach: A Survey of Student Opinion by Ruth Sara Connell.  After reading this article a few thoughts came to mind the first being the relevance of the old adage that you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.  Library's students are the horse and the Library's Facebook page is the water.  Even though the horse has had water before doesn't mean it is going to drink it and just because the students have used Facebook before does not mean that they will use your page.  But that does not mean that you should not show them the water at all.  I think that asking students to like the library's page is an important advertisement tool and they may or may not do so but at least you have given the opportunity.  Also this will put that nugget of knowledge that the Library has a Facebook page in their mind which they could choose to pull out that nugget at a later date.  The study performed by the author did show that 57.7% of the students survey said that if the library friended them that they would accept the friend request.  I thought that it was great that 42.6% of the students would be receptive to information being send through Facebook.  This shows that student may be willing to utilize the Library's Facebook page if one is offered to them.  Overall, a survey should be conducted of your libraries students in order to determine if this form of social media would be right for them or if they are even interested in using it.

Flickr

Flickr

I used to have a Flickr account about 5 years ago but for the life of me I could not remember my username and password.  So I used the sign in through Facebook feature which was really helpful to me.  I didn't realize that there are groups on Flickr that you can join and upload pictures and video to in order to collaborate with others in your career field or who have similar interests.  When I used Flickr before it was for a short time during my Myspace days in college and even then I wasn't sure if it was the right site for me.  I think that it boils down to the fact that Flickr is a great site to share photos and videos on in order to share them with friends and loved ones who may not be on social networking sites.  This way they can still share in the experience of your adventures in life without having to become a member of a social media society that they may not have wanted any part of.

YouTube

YouTube

YouTube is really an interesting site and some of the videos could actually be useful.  I like how different users are like the different channels on the TV.  With so many videos on the site I can see how tagging the videos and enabling them to be searchable is a key component.  I also liked how people could comment on the videos and some people gave hints about interesting or funny things at a certain time stamp within the clip.  The phrase, "Did you see that video on (insert video title/topic here) on YouTube?"  is something that I hear all of the time.  But I guess that I do not use the site as much as other people do.  Every once in a while I watch an interesting video while looking at a news feed.  But generally I don't have the time to look at much of the content on YouTube.  Due to this the feature on YouTube that would be the most useful to me would be the browse tab which shows some of the most popular or new videos within a particular genre. 

Twitpic

Twitpic

I really like the media site Twitpic and currently use it when uploading pictures and videos to Twitter.  It enables you to link your Twitpic account to your Twitter account for easy upload.  The site is also has a similar layout to Twitter and tells you how many photos you have uploaded as well as if you have been tagged in any. You can also view the public timeline of pictures for those that do not have any privacy settings.  The privacy settings make it so that others cannot tag your photos and that they do not appear in the public timeline.  Overall, I really like this program and hope to use it more in the future.

Class Divisions

Viewing American Class Divisions through Facebook and MySpace by Danah Boyd. Sometimes writing style can make or break a piece of written work and in this case the conversation feel of Danah's writing made it that much more enjoyable. This article was written about 4 years ago and I understand that their was a shift and that the "subaltern" stayed with Myspace and the "hegemonic" went to Facebook therefore creating a cultural/societal divide. But I work in a "subaltern" school district and tutor students at URI from "subaltern" homes and yet none of them know what Myspace is. My First graders have Facebook accounts because their family members do. So in my experience the status divided created between Facebook and Myspace users is becoming less and less. And if people want to exclude others on Facebook then they can do that just as easily through privacy setting, not accepting friend requests, and unfriending someone. Facebook can now be like any other societal click we don't need Myspace to be the bad guy anymore because Facebook can serve the role of good, bad and indifferent for everyone.

The Use of Facebook in Academic Medical Libraries

Use of Facebook in Academic Health Sciences Libraries by Dean Henfrix, Deborah Chiarella, Linda Hasman, Sharon Murphy, and Michelle Zafron. I was surprised that only 9 out of the 72 medical libraries surveyed maintained Facebook pages. I think that sometimes I forget that not everyone is dialed into the Social Media Society. But I felt unnerved by the fact that those 9 libraries were not very confidant in their pages ability to succeed or continue. I understand that implementing a new component to the Library can be dificult but it should also only be implemented if there is a need for it. I agree with the articles conclusion that there is not really enough data with this small of a response to determine the most used aspects of Facebook within Medical Academic Libraries. As a librarian I can see how it might be difficult to use various aspects of social media with such a specialized library field.

Tribes Book Review