Boh, I'll miss you, little blog.

So, I'm pretty sure that is the Web 2.0 Training all wrapped up. Although I never have written a blog before, I've become kinda attached to this one. Maybe I'll even miss it.

I would consider myself pretty technology and web savvy, and this course has forced me to further investigate things which I otherwise had a general, but not particular deep knowledge of. Which is great.
I think I will definitely keep my Twitter account, but personally, the rest of the accounts I created will fall by the wayside.

Out of all of this I have realised how useful a wiki an be in organising internal information. Something which I really think my library system could do with. I always have and always will think that blogs and social media have a huge part to play in libraries and I really hope that some of the opposition to online and digital resources will dissolve away in libraries over time.

People really need to remember that all technology evolves, and to not use online resources is really stupid. What if people refused to use magazines, or DVDs or audio in libraries? What if we had kept libraries as private institutions only for the rich? Libraries are against censorship - why passively stop our patrons accessing information just because it is online or in a different format?

And as a parting thought, here is something for everyone to remember: Information overload, the early years - Five centuries years ago, a new technology swamped the world with data. What we can learn from the aftermath.

W00t!

Geocaching

I don't think regular Geocaching is appropriate for libraries. It's a lot of fun, but really, other than just getting people into the building I don't see much point.

However, we could maybe apply the principle small scale within the library, or even within a library system. Maybe the older sport/hobby of letterboxing could also be used, where a the participant carries a logbook and collects stamps. This could be used as an interbranch/library way to get people to visit libraries that they otherwise wouldn't.

I have gone geocaching before and it has always been lots of fun, and never have we found anything nasty or inappropriate in the boxes. Once again, like any sort of unregulated or democratic sort of activity, I think that you will infrequently have problems because 99% of people are normal, good folks just like everyone else. A bit like the Internet really.

Podcasting

Podcasts are something that I think could work for public libraries really well. I think that adding and promoting a list of links to podcasts that other organisations have relevance to libraries.

Here at Swan we are planning on having monthly promotional themes, and I think we very quickly and easily add a couple of themed/subject specific podcasts to our catalogue each month. Once again, like other resources, it is not so much libraries producing the resource, only guiding people towards where they can access it.

As the training blog mentioned ABC does podcasts/vodcasts really really well. In the past I have downloaded quite a few from the science/environment pages and Triple J, especially a lot of their Live at the Wireless live music sets. You can find their pod/vodcasts and live stream at http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/live/podcast/.

Youtube

Here is a great video produced for the University of Liverpool's Library. Library Ninja showed me this quite a few months ago when we were discussing just how badly promo videos, especially those for libraries, can be. I think some of the videos posted/ found by other people have highlighted how very well meaning, sweet hearted librarians all over the world can make us all look as daggy and dated as our stereotype suggests while trying to do the exact opposite. Case and point here. Oh dear.

HOWEVER! Here is a video which I think is really successful:




It's short, it's cute and original and best of all it gets the message across. And it's classy.

Facebook

Okay, this blog can be a short one after my thoughts on Twitter.

I use Facebook socially, and I find it a really quick, convenient way to keep in touch with friends, especially the ones who do not live close to me. I regularly share links, photos and messages with people on Facebook and have never had any problem with security. But then again, I personally set my security settings, make sure everything is private, only add friends who I know personally, and don't usually post anything I wouldn't want my family or colleagues to see.

I'm not convinced of the application of Facebook in Libraries. Personally, I'm not someone who would 'friend' a library on Facebook, and I would seriously question the cost benefit of running one for a average sized public library.

Dispite this, I'm very sure that in the future other networking sites will spring up with different formats and functions which will be very important to the development of libraries and our relationship with our patrons.

Twitter; not just for egocentric morons.

Twitter often portrayed as the ADHD side of social media, and we all see the stories about people tweeting about what they had for breakfast.

Although I don't really use twitter often, I find it really interesting. I think that there is an ever developing push for the freedom of information and knowledge. This certainly isn't new, but there is a greater opportunity for it to flourish online.

Open source software, user driven content, indie developers and publishers have been with the net from day one, and there are many high profile developers, academics and business people who are strong advocates of accessibility, transparency and an all round DIY attitude. Have no idea what the hell open source is? Have a look at this page.

Another example of the fight for transparency and access to information is whistle blower website Wikileaks. I'm sure that everyone  has heard about Wikileaks now, but if not check out their website.

And how does all this relate to social media like Twitter?

Twitter means that people can trade information, links and pictures in real time which otherwise may have taken hours or even days to hit the conventional media. Even then it can be skewed, censored or edited.

For examples of this check out this Time article Iran Protests: Twitter, the Medium of the Movement  about the role Twitter played in the post election protests in Iran last year. Another example is the Mount Merapi eruption where twitter and facebook had faster and more reliable news than major news networks.  See this article from the Jakarta Globe about how Twitter is being used by Volunteers Use Twitter to Help Victims of Indonesia Eruptions .

Even yesterday, after the announcement that Wikileaks had published a new round of leaked memos and documents the high traffic use of the hashtag #wikileaks almost bought twitter to it's knees. Obviously, the huge level of traffic means that it was something that people were certainly talking about.

Not that information in the blogosphere or the twitterverse should all be taken as gospel, ( indeed maybe we should apply our distrust and skepticism to all media, not just digital media)  but I feel really optimistic about the future of news and information access in the digital age.

I hope that these sorts of websites will lead to a more democratic way of transmitting news and current affairs in the future.

Any thoughts?

*edit* oh, and you can find me on twitter at @chelsearpayne.

Flickr

I had completely skipped over week 3 for the web 2.0 training, so here is a post to catch up:

I used Flickr to look up images of a a type of photography which I have a slightly obsessive crush on.



William Edward Kilburn (1819-1891); Ambrotype

Collection of National Media Museum


Wanna know more about ambrotypes and why I love them? More after the jump....