This is a really cool way to explore the best of what's out there in the web 2.0 universe, and I found many sites that I had not known existed. Also, this seems like a good way to sift through the plethora of sites and tools that are multiplying like rabbits and pick out the best from amongst them. I was pleased to see how many categories of sites and services are covered in this process as well.
I have used Threadless before to shop for cool T-shirt designs, but I had not really thought of it as a Web 2.0 tool until I saw it listed on this awards page. In retrospect, this site is certainly in line with the Web 2.0 philosophy of user generated content and it is a great example of how we are fast becoming the arbiters of cool rather than simply consumers of what others think is cool. Kind of like the democratization of cool, since designs can be added by customers and "voted" on in a sense by the number of people who purchase them. This site also offers designers an interesting way to be compensated for their work, so that is an added bonus for users to contemplate when evaluating the site. All in all, I think the award for best retail site was well chosen in the case of Threadless, and I urge those who have not yet checked it out to do so.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Technocrati
The concept behind Technocrati is interesting, and I like the idea of assigning authority to blogs to help readers discern their worth. Unfortunately, I don't think I am a big fan of the way in which that "authority" is measured. While I think that measuring the number of blogs that link to any other can certainly help one to determine if a blog is popular, I don't necessarily think that popularity in this sense can be viewed as authority in the way that we are used to thinking of it. Beyond that, I can see how this measurement could prove useful for those wishing to see what all the other sheepole are viewing... OK so maybe some of that is just sour grapes because I only have an authority ranking of 2...
del.icio.us
Mmmm Mmmm, it really is delicious to use del.icio.us... I have been using this tool for quite some time to deal with a problem we face in the library system, namely that our favorites do not follow us from computer to computer. Del.icio.us solves this problem by creating a centralized place for me to store my Internet favorites so that I can pull them up on any computer I am logged onto, even away from work.
To tell the truth though, I had not really considered using del.icio.us to help me develop reading lists as is described in the web tutorial. This is an interesting feature that seems to be well suited towards those of us who need to keep up with current research on any particular topic. I was interested to hear the commentator speaking about the "magic middle" and about the need to be judicious when balancing the amount of content that can be realistically processed by any one person. I have similar feelings about the overwhelming amount of material that can be found online and also feel strongly that as information professionals we need to understand the best ways to sift through all of that info. Unfortunately, while tagging can lead you to content that you might not have reached through other means, there is also the quite real problem of false drops associated with synonymy, homonymy, and polysemy. I think that tagging has great potential to help us to better categorize and classify the vast amount of content available on the Internet, but I also think that the technology is still in its infancy and will have to undergo several growth spurts before it becomes as functional as it might be.
To tell the truth though, I had not really considered using del.icio.us to help me develop reading lists as is described in the web tutorial. This is an interesting feature that seems to be well suited towards those of us who need to keep up with current research on any particular topic. I was interested to hear the commentator speaking about the "magic middle" and about the need to be judicious when balancing the amount of content that can be realistically processed by any one person. I have similar feelings about the overwhelming amount of material that can be found online and also feel strongly that as information professionals we need to understand the best ways to sift through all of that info. Unfortunately, while tagging can lead you to content that you might not have reached through other means, there is also the quite real problem of false drops associated with synonymy, homonymy, and polysemy. I think that tagging has great potential to help us to better categorize and classify the vast amount of content available on the Internet, but I also think that the technology is still in its infancy and will have to undergo several growth spurts before it becomes as functional as it might be.
Monday, December 17, 2007
As mentioned in my last post, I am not a big fan of Rupert Murdoch and his multimedia empire. Because of that dislike, which I will not elaborate on here, I have chosen to use Facebook as my online social networking outlet. Facebook works more with educational entities than other OSNs and this is another reason that I feel this service is a good fit for my purpose. I have many classmates who use Facebook, and since many of them have at least some interests in common with me, this just seems to be a natural choice.
Setting up an account in Facebook is very easy, as is adding content to my profile and searching for friends. Though my profile is very sparse right now, there seems to be many interesting ways to customize it without having it become overly visually confusing, a problem that seems to plague other services. I can't say that I have too much more to add about the process at this point, but I am sure that as I explore the ins and outs of the service I will have much more to discuss. With that in mind I will probably come back to this post to add any thoughts I have about the experience once I have more experience with it.
I know what you're thinking: "what does Matt in a kayak have to do with Facebook?"... well this is the picture I used on my profile, so there's your tie in.
PS. Come visit me on Facebook and we can make like friends :)
Online Social Networking and Libraries
You may notice that I am not specifically referring to MySpace in the title of this post. This is largely a reflection of my opposition to so many of the things that the owner of MySpace (Rupert Murdoch) stands for, and you couldn't make me like him or it in a thousand years... having said that, I'll write the rest of this with an eye to the concept of online social networking in general, rather than focusing on specific sites.
Like many of those whose articles are featured in this discovery exercise, I think that online social networking is a very interesting and intriguing development, and one that holds much potential for librarians and libraries. The idea of libraries connecting with these established and growing online communities is especially interesting since it represents new ways of thinking about promotion of our programs and services. The ability to connect with large numbers of users at once presents us with a wealth of new opportunities to market to these communities and to help them to better understand what the library can be and do for them. OSN also presents us with a unique channel for receiving feedback from customers and potential customers about the quality of our current services, and new ways to connect those customers to our services as well.
Of course, there are some concerns that OSN use raises, and these are not to be taken lightly. However, institutional use of these networks does not expose us to the same types of risks that individual users face, and even presents us with some opportunities that are not available to individual users as well. Overall, I think that many libraries could benefit from establishing an online presence in these communities as long as they are willing and able to keep up with the added work and responsibility that may accompany that presence. I am excited that we, as a system, are actively engaged in exploring these communities and thinking about how we might use them to our benefit.
Like many of those whose articles are featured in this discovery exercise, I think that online social networking is a very interesting and intriguing development, and one that holds much potential for librarians and libraries. The idea of libraries connecting with these established and growing online communities is especially interesting since it represents new ways of thinking about promotion of our programs and services. The ability to connect with large numbers of users at once presents us with a wealth of new opportunities to market to these communities and to help them to better understand what the library can be and do for them. OSN also presents us with a unique channel for receiving feedback from customers and potential customers about the quality of our current services, and new ways to connect those customers to our services as well.
Of course, there are some concerns that OSN use raises, and these are not to be taken lightly. However, institutional use of these networks does not expose us to the same types of risks that individual users face, and even presents us with some opportunities that are not available to individual users as well. Overall, I think that many libraries could benefit from establishing an online presence in these communities as long as they are willing and able to keep up with the added work and responsibility that may accompany that presence. I am excited that we, as a system, are actively engaged in exploring these communities and thinking about how we might use them to our benefit.
Friday, December 7, 2007
The RA Wiki
I have mixed feelings about this wiki for several reasons. On the one hand, this is a great space for staff to share a book/author they think is worthwhile, but the fact that everyone can not only add their own entry, but alter others entries is problematic. It may turn out to work fine in this setting where all of the contributors are fairly homogeneous and well meaning, but in circumstances where that is not the case I think the lack of registration could present problems. The interface here was pretty simple, but a little tricky as well in spots, and it took me a while to figure out that you could fix the editing bar in place while scrolling far down the page. Other than that it worked pretty well and the changes were easy to make (after the edit bar thing).
Tagging was not really useful in this instance, since there is no way to really tag each entry without just putting it at the end as many people did. (Tags: Sci-Fi, Space, etc.) Because you can see most of the stuff that would be in the tags in the main entry it seemed kind of pointless. By the same token, if you were to add all the collected tags from each entry to the entire page, you would have a huge mish mash of tags that would perhaps aid searching, but would create many false hits as well.
Tagging was not really useful in this instance, since there is no way to really tag each entry without just putting it at the end as many people did. (Tags: Sci-Fi, Space, etc.) Because you can see most of the stuff that would be in the tags in the main entry it seemed kind of pointless. By the same token, if you were to add all the collected tags from each entry to the entire page, you would have a huge mish mash of tags that would perhaps aid searching, but would create many false hits as well.
Wikiworld
Wikis, in my humble opinion, are cool as all get out... I love that you can so easily create and maintain a web space that can be used collaboratively with others. The possibilities for their usefulness are wide and really only limited by our own imaginations, especially in the library setting. Obviously the examples shown in this exercise provide a good cross sampling of some of these many uses, and highlight the ways in which wikis can be used as collaborative tools to enhance productivity and enrich library services. I particularly like the Princeton RA wiki and the Library Success wiki because they are wonderful examples of this collaborative spirit at work.
In the Library Success wiki, we as librarians find both a portal for exploring what others in the profession find works well for them, and a forum for contributing to that discussion as well. Similarly, the Princeton RA wiki provides a space for that community to share their reading suggestions and to link to library materials and services in unique ways. Both wikis require passwords to edit content as well, so there is a fair degree of control over the content that is included on their site. I am excited that we have begun to use wikis for our system, even if they are still kind of unofficial from what I understand, and look forward to reaping the rewards of the collaborative interaction that they offer.
In the Library Success wiki, we as librarians find both a portal for exploring what others in the profession find works well for them, and a forum for contributing to that discussion as well. Similarly, the Princeton RA wiki provides a space for that community to share their reading suggestions and to link to library materials and services in unique ways. Both wikis require passwords to edit content as well, so there is a fair degree of control over the content that is included on their site. I am excited that we have begun to use wikis for our system, even if they are still kind of unofficial from what I understand, and look forward to reaping the rewards of the collaborative interaction that they offer.
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