Wikis

I like the idea of Wikis but the quality of each project depends on the skills and dedication of the editors. The more editors you get, the greater the chance of errors, bias, and disorganization.

Wikipedia is a good example of a well-controlled, active community with a consensus in mind. Sure, the occasional prankster or agenda-prone editor comes along (just check the edit records for the page on evolution) but overall, the information provided is accurate and fairly unbiased.

I like the idea of building something through an open group of users sharing knowledge. But those users need to be savvy, organized, and dedicated to the project if you want substantial results.

So, I have a lot more exploring to do when it comes to using wikis, but I am excited about the opportunities.

Reading Networks

I had fun playing around with Library Thing and Goodreads. Although I already had a Library Thing account, I hadn't used it much. Like most of the 2.0 sites, I will have to spend much more time with them before I get a true idea of all the possibilities and limitations.

Library Thing has a more attractive format and allows tags to get organize books, however I get the feeling that it represents your personal library and not all the books you've read. I generally don't buy books unless I know I'll read them a million times and can get them at a low price. The public library serves most of my reading needs.

Goodreads makes it a little easier to find books, since they list many editions together, though not all. Sometimes I had to use the Amazon search to find what I needed. I felt like this site had more possibilities, although I haven't had a lot of time to explore either.

I set up a Goodreads account at http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1056173
Hopefully I'll have time to play with this more and interact with other users.

Technorati

I think Technorati is a great tool for finding out what people are talking about and networking with different sources. It has a nice format for keeping track of your favorite blogs and is more visually appealing that Bloglines.

I noticed that the most popular topics and posts related directly to current events and the newest stories. No surprise there.

As far as the different searches, I couldn't find a way to search the blog directory under the advanced search options. The video showed it next to the main search bar, but maybe you have to log in to see that, because I didn't. I did try a "Learning 2.0" search in the main bar on the front page and that yielded different (and many more) results than the tag search. However, the results of the tag search were probably more precise and accurate to the subject I wanted.

del.icio.us tags

At first I felt a bit skeptical about the virtues of social bookmarking, but I'm definitely warming up to the idea as I hear more about it. It would be extremely convenient for me to access my links from other computers, especially when I'm writing papers at school and would like to find all the research sites I'd bookmarked at home.

I scanned through the isdesk account and found some interesting sites. One of the more popular ones was the complete works of Darwin online. When I scrolled down the list of comments, most people just described the site, but a few comments said, "W00t!" and "I'll never have to go to the library again!" Ah, no.

Although, I can see how del.icio.us tags can become sprawling monsters in the way of favorites folders, it at least offers a system of organization, if you can think of the right tags. Certainly a great resource and something I will use in the future for myself.

This Week...

Most of the generators just stuck words on an image, nothing I couldn't do myself with photoshop. I like the trading card program (which I already used in an earlier exercise) and a few of the ones I found through the generator blog. Some of the picture warping ones are entertaining for a little while.

I love this random fact generator: http://www.mentalfloss.com/amazingfactgenerator/

"President Lincoln’s oldest son was on the scene of three presidential assassinations. His father in 1865, Garfield in 1881, and McKinley in 1901."

Yikes.

As far as revisiting...I started my own personal flickr account and uploaded a lot of outdoor photos. I also went back to bloglines to read updates posted on some of my favorites. I've been fiddling around with ficlets.com since I already had a Myspace and Facebook account. I'm not to fond of the setup at ficlets and despair over most of the writing, but it is entertaining.

Social Networking

I have a MySpace account and much as I loathe the whole system, it keeps me in touch with friends and what's going on around town. MySpace is so youth-oriented that libraries as a whole will definitely have trouble attracting viewers there. Libraries simply aren't "cool" in places like that.

However, youth programs like the YAAB are sure to grab a good level of interaction, since they've made the connections already with the kids in person and those kids' networks are now all connected with the library. I like FVRL's YAAB site and I think it was a great idea.

I'm not so familiar with Facebook, but I think it's a bit more mature, perhaps. Libraries might find a place there if they can appeal to the users. The focus should probably be on book picks and readers, not necessarily library cards or library programs.

People like libraries a lot, but they're usually not desirable on friend/contact lists for personal profiles on networking sites. Your library is your friend, but it's not your Friend.

Instant Messaging

I prefer e-mail to instant messages, but I can see how IM can be helpful, even more so than the phone, because it gives you a little time to think and revise your sentences. If you have a staffed reference desk, IM can be a great tool, but at a small branch like ours, where our circulation desk doubles as reference and our staff tops out at four, there might not always be someone there to type out responses. The IS dept at VA might be better equipped to field IM reference.

As far as communication between branches, IM only works if the two people are at their computers at the same time, which can be tricky with our varying hours, meetings, and field work. E-mails seem to work better for now.

I would be interested in trying a meebo application on our webpage to see how many people would respond, and how many staff would be available to answer their questions. I have a feeling we'd get a lot of immature comments and chatting, and some people who type very slowly. However, if there are a lot of web-savvy patrons who want to make inquiries this way, it would be an exciting new way to communicate with them.