Social Intelligence

Most of the reading I did this week made me think, but did not convert me to the Twittersphere. When I signed in and got reading I realized that it has some potential uses that I had not even thought of including job hunting alaTwitter. Go figure! I now need to figure out how to connect some of my various bits of software together so that I do not have a constantly revolving door of sites that I must enter and leave to keep up with my virtual life.

I like the idea of answering questions that are sent out into the Twittersphere. I would check tweets in the radius of the library I am working at to make sure that people are connecting to programs and resources that the library has to offer. Answering questions and redirecting people to existing programs works the same way in real life as it does in the virtual realm, except that you may not recognize each other when the people you have been communicating with come into your library.

I have enjoyed a link to a series of podcasts about a bookmobile librarian in Highlands of Scotland that I found on the Connecticut State Library FriendFeed as well as a series of quotes on the Twitter feed from Waubonsee Community College Library. I guess this means that I enjoy some people’s random tweets, but I am not certain how much time I will put into tweeting about my own life, personal or professional. I have found a new way to connect with the world outside my geographic area.

I am now connected to CBC on Twitter as well as listening to my favourite shows over the airwaves while I am cooking in the kitchen. I will connect to other media sources as well and share links from an online newsletter that I am already receiving. I may use Twitter in my professional life as a starting spot for answering some reference questions as well as promoting library events or resources. I think the idea of sharing music and other outside interests may allow for a more personal connection so that you can connect to other groups.

As a closing note for Twitter I will leave you with this little Twitter song:

After reading various prospectives on web 2.0 technology and transparency of business and marketing objectives, I started to wonder how far we as a society have really come in creating transparent, user friendly environments that promote access and collaboration. I would say that this issue may be one that will be perpetual beta as people seem to treat web 2.0, like the metric measurement debate (CBC commentary ), which means that we will use some of the new ideas and technology and at the same time hold onto many of the old ways. The metric debate I felt this clip was appropriate from the CBC archives as similiar points about the cost, time, cultural connections, etc. were brought forward by both sides. The difference is that while this was a Canadian debate the debate over social software is an international debate.

I think in some cases not moving forward or complaining about social software is the result of a combination of protecting our professional turf regardless of which industry we are in and fear that the new technology will cause more problems than it will solve. The issue is though that regardless of how we feel about the new technology that is coming into our world it will not stop coming. We must find a way to contribute that is both comfortable and productive. Meredith Farkas has some suggestions and opinions about libraries using social software that I thought you should all read. She has also included a lengthy set of links that may be of use if you are patient enough to read to the end of her post or if you choose to skip the post that is up to you. I enjoyed it as I have seen some interesting uses for both Facebook and MySpace and I enjoyed her commentary. Thanks Meredith for your input and making me think. I look forward to hearing my colleagues’ response to Libraries in Social Networking Software.

 http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/2006/05/10/libraries-in-social-networking-software/

 I also enjoyed the input of  Michael Casey and Laura Savastinuk about possibilities for serving our customers in a library 2.0 setting and particularly the discussion about patrons adding reviews, ratings, and tags or subject headings to library catalogue records. There were whispers about this technology before I left cataloguing temporarily to go back to school. The whispers appear to be turning into shouts with articles and blog entries such as Laurel Tarulli’s about social tagging in library catalogues and patron complaints about other people’s tags. The question is why can we not treat patron created content like the comments received on blogs which can be moderated with the appropriate disclaimer.

 http://laureltarulli.wordpress.com/2009/12/30/social-tagging-in-the-catalogue-you-allow-that/

It may require extra time from our already busy day.

It might alienate older users who were comfortable with old system. 

It might actually make it more convienent for library patrons to do their business without ever stepping through the doors of our physical library, thereby, decreasing circ stats, and decreasing the need for staff.

I know the way I have presented these concerns it may seem like I am trivializing them as at least two of the concerns mentioned are contradictory in nature, but I am not trivializing as I have had similiar concerns particularly the one about the extra time it would take me to get used to a new system. The problem is that if we do not change then we will be left behind and not be serving our communities effectively.