Rhiannon

So much has happened in the last 13 weeks in this class.  Before coming into this course, I felt that I knew a great deal about social software, but now I realize that I had so much to learn.  My views have changed about social software, in particular Twitter.  I was never a fan of Twitter, but now I realize how much it is changing the world we live in and how much it has changed the way we stay current and get our information.

My favorite tools for libraries are definitely Facebook and Twitter because they can really impact the community if they utilize these sources well. I also really liked using Delicious and I think a Delicious site could really enhance online offerings for a library.  On the other hand, I am not a fan of RSS feeds for libraries.  These seem like the tools that would be overlooked by patrons really easily and therefore may have a limited impact on the community.

In terms of personal use, I have really started paying attention to library blogs.  I find them to be a great source of information.  I am also really excited to build up my Delicious account!  Facebook has always been a tool that I use regularly, but now I am looking at it in a different way.  I am looking at libraries more often and viewing Facebook as a professional tool.  I am still a bit confounded by mashups and I think I would be tempted to stay away from them for a bit longer.

I love distance courses!  I always get more out of them because instead of sitting in class, I am forced to comment on the readings and learn the coursework myself.  If I am having difficulties with the material I am more likely to figure it out on my own and strengthen my tech skills.  I am sorry that I don’t really have any advice to offer. I loved the readings and the assignments really helped me solidify my knowledge about the topics!

Thank you for a great 13 weeks Amanda and classmates!  I realyl enjoyed connecting with everyone.

Hi there.  I’m taking advantage of a blog holiday this week….so many assignments!!!!

My view on Policy and Assessment: Before

This week I have decided to compose my blog in a before and after fashion.  I want to express my ideas on library policy before I do the readings and listen to the lecture and then explore the topic in depth to decide if my mind changes after looking at social media policies in particular.

I love policies!!  They have the ability to save us from unnecessary debate, they give patrons a rulebook of sorts to follow, and they help form a professional map to follow. (And as a student they give us wonderful fodder for essays!!)  Of course, I am speaking from the point of view of someone who has never drafted a policy, so I imagine my opinions may change when I am the one in charge of developing a policy.

A social media policy seems like a great idea for any library.  In any realm where patrons have access and some form of control over the operation of a library service a policy is a natural safeguard.  I find this to be especially true for electronic communications because it is so easy for someone to hide behind a screen.  This week in our Professional Communication class we discussed flaming in emails and we all know that flaming can be really bad when anonymity is involved!

But I don’t know how easy it is to develop and enforce a policy regarding social media.  Especially when it concerns acceptable use.  I know users can be banned from sites, but IP addresses are not a good way to enforce this.  What if one of the biggest opponents on a site is using a library computer?

Social media assessment tools may not be as problematic as policy drafting though.  Any of the tools we have looked at this term have built in ways to assess the popularity of the tool.  Activity is the biggest one!

Now I am going to peruse the course material and I’ll come back and let you know if my mind has changed at all regarding the use and feasibility of social media policies.

After the readings….

I really enjoyed the readings, case study, and lecture.  After doing my work, I realized that I still love policies and now I have a better understanding about how they can be developed in order to function effectively.  Lauby’s articles were both great from a corporate standpoint.  The first was focused on employee productivity and control which turned me off a bit, but I understand that these types of documents are needed in all workplaces.  When I previously thought of social media policies for libraries, employee guidelines never came to mind.  It was nice to read that, because they are necessary, especially in a public place where people can be affected by the social media.  When I looked at the case studies such as the DePaul policies and the City of Seattle Blogging Policy it really helped solidify the need for a policy for staff.  Some of the points may seem a bit obvious to us, but clearly they are needed.  I really liked the way both policies stressed the need for transparency in authorship.  A librarian that hides under a pseudonym needs to be accountable to the public.

In terms of policies for user I really liked the Multnomah County Library’s policy.  It was clear and to the point.  It listed certain things that would get a post deleted immediately and set out some general safety guidelines for the users.  I noticed that many of the points on this policy and the UT Southewestern Library were similar to guidelines wet out for staff.  I also noticed that they were simple enough to allow for future changes.  Lauby uses the word evolutionary to describe them.  They must be able to change with the times.

So, after doing the readings, case studies, and listening to the lecture, I am glad to say that my views have not changed.  I still like policies and support them wholeheartedly.  What has changed is my understanding of how a library can craft a successful policy.  There must be policies for both patrons and staff, but the core ideals are universal to both groups.

(And to write a bit about assessment….my views have not changed at all.  Assessment is a necessary part of any program.)

After listening to the lecture, doing the readings, and browsing through the case studies, I am not sold on the idea of RSS feeds in libraries.

Of course they can be useful but only if they are done properly.  I don’t see the point of subscribing to a feed in my local public library if the library isn’t doing too much to update it.  This is true of any social software though.  The success stories are the ones that people pour their lifeblood into.  Like quite a few of the blogs I have read, I too found the Dublin City Public Library RSS feed to be too much.  I opened the page and my eyes didn’t know which way to begin.  But once I was able to focus my eyes I found a lot of great information.

I absolutely loved the Book Cover Carousel from the Cambridge library.  It was aesthetically pleasing and could offer a lot of information about the library and the way their develop their collections.  The University of Oklahoma’s library feed was also well done.  I liked the way people could choose what type of information to subscribe to.

Unless the library knows how to utilize RSS feeds well I don’t think they are well suited to public libraries.  Perhaps they can be more successful for larger libraries, but small libraries would have to be very creative to sustain them.  I like the idea of following the collection or tracking library statistics.  Perhaps a smaller library could work with the municipality to create a feed that joins the library with local news and events.

I guess RSS feeds and continuous updating are such a part of our online lives now that we often don’t think about they ways we can use them.  If they are done well in a library they can supplement the website and enrich the experience of the patron.  If they are not done well, they are just another form of web clutter.

The Cloud

Ironically enough, this was the week that I decided to listen to the course lecture and do the readings on my iPod touch.  I never really gave too much thought to the ways in which we multitask with technology, but since listening to the lecture and browsing the readings and case studies I have become much more conscious of my relationship with these technologies.  My smartphone is never far from my reach and my iPod is there for a quick browse since I don’t like the screen on my phone, and my children are learning to use these technologies as well.

The implications for libraries are becoming almost common sense after being in this class.  We understand how Twitter is used, we can see the value in crowdsourcing, and we know that a library without a Facebook page is not really a library at all!

I am finding the connections in this class.  Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 technologies represent a shift from the individual to the community.  Libraries have always been community places so it makes sense that they would utilize these technologies as a way of solidify their presence in the community. The Schnell (2009) article ponders how libraries can effectively serve their patrons using this technology and the way to do this is to allow the patrons to be the library.  Of course there will always be sensitive information that will need to be off-limits, but the opportunities for patron participation are vast.  For example a Google Doc can be used as an ongoing comment box.

Kroski (2009) discusses the cost implication for libraries when they shift from the home-based applications to the cloud.  Libraries can save money and use it for other purposes such as programming and collection development.  It is clear that the cloud is here to stay.  It makes sense from many perspectives.  Of course the negatives such as failures in service are present, but there are always negative aspects to anything.

Mobility

Mobility is another area of the cloud that I both love and am a bit wary of.  I loved the DCPL iPhone app and the Iowa City PL catalouge.  They both seemed like very useful applications for those on the go.  They are also useful in the library because libraries can save money by not having as many workstations.  Text a Librarian options can help frantic students with assignments.  Kolowich (2010) discussed how some professors are concerned about the ways research is being done and feel as if research skills are being lost.  Kolowich says that the skills are not being lost, rather they are changing.  We, as librarians, have to accept this change and be able to spearhead it.

I do have concerns with mobility technologies though.  In the lecture Amanda discussed QR codes and the ways libraries can use them to supplement the materials.  This just serves to widen the digital divide in my opinion.  How many people use libraries because they do not have the money for the Internet, or they need free material.  These people are unlikely to have a smartphone handy.  This may result in alienation of patrons.  Besides handing out smartphones at the door, which isn’t a viable solution, how can libraries deal with this?

So while cloud computing can help lessen the gap between the haves and the have nots, mobility technologies seem to widen it.  What do you think?  Is there any way to address the problem?

Microblogging and  the Real Time Web

I have been an opponent of Twitter ever since I heard of it.  My arguments were similar to most and related to the banality of it all.  I am slowly changing my mind though.  The microblogging that Twitter and similar applications has spawned has changed the way people interact.  Although I don’t have a Twitter account (yet), I find myself thinking in short updates.  It’s similar to a haiku and I know that many people do the same.

Microblogging technologies are here to stay, whether we like them or not.  We are so used to real time applications that we get impatient in our daily lives.  We discussed in Professional Communication that many people do not watch the evening news any longer.  Perhaps this is due to the immediate nature of our electronic lives.

It is clear that Twitter has changed the way people interact, get news, and find entertainment.  Libraries have been given a great opportunity with these technologies.  In the readings some of the authors discussed the way it is “spontaneous” and “personal” (EDUCAUSE, 2009).  Those words rang true to me.  By making the libraries and librarians personal, they are increasing usage in the community.  People will be more likely to ask a librarian a question if they know a bit more about them.  I found most of the literature about this topic to be similar to many of the other topics we have covered in this class.  It is clear that by using social software libraries can reach out to the community and promote the library.

The Fromm articles were refreshing because they talked about the media from a social revolution standpoint.  He discussed the real time web in a realistic way and not only focused on the glittery positives of this kind of technology.  In part two he discussed some unintended consequences of the mob mentality around certain emotionally charged events.  Perhaps it is up to library systems to utilize these unintended consequences in order to increase chances for advocacy.  Libraries could really be an integral part of a community if they acted on breaking news.  For example, let’s say that a community experienced a sudden violent crime.  The library could monitor the feeds, get a sense of the emotional tone of the community and offer programming that will help people.  If a library acts quickly enough, they may become a place where people turn to first.

Case Studies

That was an extreme example of how a library system could use the real time web to offer services to the community.  Now it is time to examine how real libraries are using these applications.  I loved the wcctodd library Twitter account.  I loved the way they didn’t just post what was happening in the library that day, they posted stats and tweets about what books were just borrowed.  This is a great way of encouraging a dialogue with the patrons.

I wasn’t a fan of the FriendFeed sites.  maybe it’s because I’m not familiar with it, but it seems to be just a mirror of Twitter.  That’s the problem with these technologies: if there are too many they get clogged in the system. People see too many choices and they don’t know where to look.

I’m going to hold my head up high and say that “Yes!  Facebook has changed my life!”  I had my twin daughters in August 2006.  I was a lonely shut-in for the winter of ’07.  Shortly after the winter my sister called me and told me to check out this Facebook thing and I kind of rolled my eyes and said “sure…”  My sister signs up for everything and I thought  it was another fad of the week, confusing web thing.  I eventually signed up and found myself reconnected with people.  I found it easier to maintain friendships and planning events was so easy.

A year later I was at a party with people who I may never have spoken to as much, if it were not for Facebook and I began to talk to a friend of mine about my inability to find a career.  She suggested librarianship since she is a librarian at Ryerson and she loves her job.  I kept in touch with her about it, applied, and…(do I really need to finish this sentence?)

Social networking sites such as Facebook are almost essential in order for busy people to maintain friendships.  A co-worker of mine was talking about how she wasn’t invited to a certain party and she said that it was because she didn’t have a Facebook account and I had to agree.  It’s awful, but people without accounts can be overlooked when planning events.

Here’s where the idea of authenticity comes into play.  A friend of mine who is anti-Facebook suggests that social networking sites promote false friendships.  We have all heard the complaint that “if I wanted to talk to these people I would do so”, and “If I hated you in high school why would I want to be your friend here?”  Perhaps social networking sites offer a cardboard friendship, but they are not only about relationships.  Social networking sites are a way to get news, a way to advertise, a form of voyeurism.  By using these aspects of social networking technology, libraries can create a dialogue that was previously not possible with their patrons.

I really like the Hennepin County Library’s Facebook page.  It is kept simple and not drowning in post after post.  The library can stay relevant this way, by not offering too much.  The page is updated frequently, but not excessively.  I found the UWO’s  LiveJournal to be lacking.  The last post was in July.

Farkas (2006) gives a good description of how a library should use social software sites and be active, rather than just putting up a profile and forgetting about it.  Libraries should use this technology to bring themselves closer to the user groups and thus remaining relevant in the community.  In a world that uses “Facebook” as a verb, and where the meaning of the word “update” has completely changed, it is clear that this type of technology is not going anywhere anytime soon.

Hi class!  I’ve decided to take a blog holiday this week.   I look forward to reading your comments about folksonomies though!!

Before I found Delicious, I would painstakingly email myself resources and websites that appealed to me to avoid the pain of having a bookmark locked to a specific computer.  My emails became increasingly confusing and long and I found myself with a collection of URLs devoid of description.  Delicious seems to be the answer to my problems.

As a personal tool, social bookmarking is powerful.  It is a way of cutting through the abstractions of Google searches because tags are specific and have often been filtered through other people.  If you take time a build a reliable network of like minds, you can take advantage of the collective intelligence.  Serendipitous discovery is facilitated through the use of multiple tags.

I  have a problem with Delicious’ organization system, or lack of though.  As I was browsing some of the LIS9763 tags, I found multiples.  Perhaps there should be a way for Delicious to group them together so the tag list can be cut down a bit.  We all know that people will not go back very far in OPACs to find relevant information.  The same can be said of a social bookmarking tool.  If we are besieged by multiples, we will be more likely to give up before finding our pearl.

As a business and organizational tool, social bookmarking and crowdsourcing technologies are brilliant.  Why waste hours building relevant reading lists for services when the public will do it for free?  For example, perhaps a library wants to create a list of Halloween resources.  The library simply has to search on Delicious and post the link to Delicious and the tags to search.   The patrons have an instant list and the library has put minimal work into it.  This will also empower the patrons to turn to these sources for future queries.  This is not the nightmare that reference librarians warn us about!!  If we are free of “easy” questions, we can spend our time developing programs that will help our patrons out.  This has the potential to strengthen the role of the public library in the community.

When I compare Delicious to the use of Google, the benefits are clear to me.  Crowdsourcing is a valuable tool that can effectively help us find our information faster.  It is also entertaining to travel through tags in order to find secret treasures.  I only hope that Delicious and other social bookmarking sites can find better ways to organize the information so multiples do not clog the tags.  Perhaps they can use a labeling system similar to gmail.  Multiple sites with the same tags can be labeled a certain colour so we are aware of the repeat.  This would be hard to do though since any link can have multiple tags that are not necessarily the same.

Overall, I find Delicious to be a fantastic addition to my online addictions.  Crowdsourcing brings us closer to people we have never met, and will most likely never meet.

Service Needs and Description

As school curriculum become increasingly advanced, we at the Whitby Public Library (http://www.whitbylibrary.on.ca/) have noticed lately that more and more students are coming to us for in-depth help with homework.  Our library website has a homework help section for teens and kids, but it requires a library card login to access, which is difficult when not all kids have a library card.  The resources we offer are mostly databases and do not really allow students to explore outside links.

That is why we are offering our new social software service that is designed to give support to students.  We have developed a Delicious account called “Homework Help” that targets the needs of students in grades 5 to 8.  We chose the Delicious platform because it is easy to get accustomed to and students will find it simple to get an account and develop their own bookmarks and tags based on their favorites from our lists.

Our research has shown us that the benefits of a social bookmarking and tagging system are far reaching.  People can benefit from the bookmarks which are not tied to a specific computer, and this is particularity pertinent for students who will often do work in many different places.  By offering a social bookmarking system to students we are encouraging active participation in the sharing of information, which will benefit more people.  Hopefully, students will form networks that will spring from the links we include, and our net of influence can reach beyond the boundaries of this particular community.  Also, it can be updated frequently based on the changing needs of students.

Target Audience

It was briefly discussed that this service will be of prime interest to older children.  We are targeting this account to Grades 5 to 8.  This group will hopefully use this account as a starting point to build their own collection of pertinent resources.

A secondary audience that will benefit greatly is teachers and parents.  Both groups can use our service to tailor specific plans to students who may be struggling with their studies.  Our account can also be used by parents and teachers who have children who are not challenged by their schoolwork since there is a wide range of material on the site.

Development of sources

Our sources were developed by examining the current curriculum for Grades 5 to 8.  The first thing we looked at when choosing our resources was if they were appropriate for children, in their language and content. We wanted to make sure that the vocabulary used was understandable for kids from grades 5 to 8. Therefore, we looked at sites which were made with kids in mind. We looked at other library websites and homework websites to see which sites they recommended, and took a lot of the links from there. We tried to find information that was general, yet useful and interesting. Finally, we also wanted the websites to be fun. We knew that if we were kids we would want to visit sites that were useful for completing homework, but that we could also go to for fun. Learning should be fun, which is why we included as many interactive websites as possible.

The websites that were chosen to bookmark range from sites that were topic specific, while others were designed to be more flexible in terms of content and depended on the need of the student. To illustrate, some sites have resources that specifically help those in grade 7 and 8 through advice and effective learning techniques which can help students better absorb and retain the information. The sites also provide quizzes, worksheets, and examples that student can draw on when they encounter problems.

For more general questions that students may have, there are websites that are designed specifically to allow a person to type in any questions they have for a quick response. A question bar is provided as the space where the specific questions a student has is typed in and then answered. There are other websites which allow the students to reach a free personal tutor online where they can obtain immediate homework help.

Another type of website that we have included to better help students understand and complete their homework were ones that parents can use as well. These websites include information to teach parents how to coach and encourage their children. For example, for parents whose children are beginners in French or are in intermediate French, often times parents have forgotten what they have learned in the past. As it is crucial for parents to be able to be active in helping their children learn, these websites are designed perfectly for parents to relearn what they need to know in order to assist their children.  In order to get a grasp of the types of resources, let’s look at some of the specific subjects.

Gym/PE

Gym is a pretty wide open subject area, so we tried to include resources relating to specific games that may be played as part of class activities, like soccer and field hockey, but we also wanted to touch on areas that might not get as much direct coverage in general gym classes. Resources dealing with yoga for kids as well as online dance tutorials will provide our users with exactly the kind of information they might be searching for. We also tried to include resources with information on general fitness and health, keeping in mind that kids may be interested in these general issues to better prepare for gym classes or specific sports.

Computers/Tech

The subject of computers is another area of study that can be pretty open to interpretation. We tried to include some good resources for students to improve their typing, as this is typically a large component of early computer classes. We also tried to provide a range of resources for kids to early teens. We often forget that by the time many young people are in their early teens (and younger) they have a much more solid grasp of computers and technology than many adults. So, while there are resources for younger kids, including Qimo, a desktop designed to introduce kids to linux, there are also resources aimed at more advanced users, like Photoshop and Word tutorials, as well as HTML and Javascript tutorials. Not only will young people find such sites useful, chances are they will be interested in learning more about these specific programs and languages.

Science

Science is such a wide ranging topic that the websites we chose to include had to reflect this.  One of the biggest concerns when choosing science websites was they website’s ability to make science fun.  Far too often we hear children groaning about science homework and learning about it.  The websites we chose really aimed to make science attractive to students and to help them learn interesting, applicable uses for science.  One of the main attractions for a website was the interactivity aspect and having an experiment section.  Also it was really important for the website to be reliable and scholarly in nature in order to encourage the students who already have an interest in science.

Promotion and Maintenance of Homework Help

In order for any new technology to be successful, it must be promoted well.  Our Delicious account will be advertised on the Whitby Public Library website on both the areas for kids and teens.  We also hope to go into some of the schools in person to conduct tutorials on how to set up and use Delicious.  We aim to help students utilize the network aspect of Delicious by showing them how to add their friends and teachers to their networks.  We will strongly encourage a classroom network which includes the teachers, since Grades 5 to 8 are still relatively young and this may alleviate parental concern over what types of sources are bookmarked.  We will be able to gauge the success of our service by monitoring how many people add us to their network.  We will also offer an email service that will encourage student, parent, and teacher suggestions.  There is a blog option on our account and we will use that to advertise new additions to our account and new, relevant library services.  Also, by looking at how popular our links are by seeing how many people have bookmarked the same link, we can assess the popularity and relevance of our sources.

We aim to maintain our account by regularly adding new sites and listening to feedback from parents, teachers, and students about the types of resources that are the most useful.  A service such as this loses some of its power when it becomes too large, so trying to keep the resources limited, organized, and relevant will ensure that it is presented in a way which appeals to students.

Future Development

Once we have assessed the success of our service we can begin to find ways to develop it for the future.  A service is only successful if it is relevant.  We hope to be able to develop this service by offering related Delicious accounts for students.  One that we are hoping to begin developing is a student mental health account and sensitive life topic account.  These are viable resources for students who may be on the cusp of adolescence and wondering about issues that they do not feel comfortable discussing with peers, teachers, or parents.  Let’s face it: times are changing and the gap between youth and adults seems to be widening.

Thank you for your interest in our proposal.  We encourage questions and comments.  You can find us on Delicious.com with the user name LIS9763 or directly at this URL: http://www.delicious.com/Homework_Help.