Thing 21 Beyond My Space: Other Social Networks

Exploring Gather was my first foray into the world of other social networks. Since I'm working on a project involving public library services to children at the moment, I checked for groups interested in that topic. I found several groups but little useful information or leads. In one case, I found photos of a trip to Shanghai, of interest to me since I spent a few days there on a trip to China, but nothing pertinent to my work.

On to WebJunction which looks much friendlier and more streamlined in its new version. I created an account, mostly because MLA's Legislative Committee will use WebJunction for discussion of this year's platform planks and other legislative issues. The Committee tried this approach last year, too, but it did not work well as several members (including me) could not seem to get in. This year the path is much easier, and I believe the effort will succeed.

Also checked out the 23 Things Ning where I noticed the photo of a member from West St. Paul, the city where I work. Turns out she is a school library media specialist in a nearby high school, someone I have not yet met. I sent a comment and hope she will respond. That would be a first for me, meeting someone local through a social network!

I was able to add a 23 Things badge to my Facebook page but have not yet succeeeded in adding one to my blog despite several efforts. It's time to turn to my colleagues for advice.

Thing 20 Facebook and MySpace

I spent a fair amount of time on Facebook, less on MySpace. I set up a Facebook page where my first two friends are my son and daughter-in-law who have pages much more developed and interesting than mine. It's clear they use their pages actively, adding friends, tracking their travels, listing details in their profiles about music and reading preferences. In fact, I learned a few things about them I had not known before! I joined two groups, ALA and 23 Things on a Stick. and wrote several messages on my daughter-in-law's wall.

On MySpace I took a brief cruise of the site and looked at library pages for Denver Public and Hennepin County. The number of book ads in the form of thank yous posted by authors on both sites surprised me.

Of these two social networking sites, Facebook is the one I'd be more likely to use.

Thing 19 Podcasts

I've been an occasional listener to podcasts from MPR and from Nancy Pearl. Checking the MPR site, I noticed a variety of podcasts on political topics, including one on creating a Fantasy Legislature, a most intriguing idea.

The On the Road with MINITEX podcasts were a real treat. The interviews with wonderful librarians like Tom Shaugnessy, Beth Kelly, and Sue Colten were well worth the time. Wise librarians all, they had fascinating and thought-provoking things to say about their careers and the library field.

I explored the Education Podcast Network where I checked podcasts listed under 'Information Skills.' What an odd group, ranging from Stephen Abram talking about roving reference, to a basic introduction to Survey Monkey, and a long list of best baby names. A very mixed bag indeed.

Thing 18 You Tube

OK, an explanation is in order. I searched YouTube for videos on the Southdale Library, hoping to find a video made by Edina High School students who came to the library on a Sunday morning (before opening) a couple years ago with elaborate equipment and an equally elaborate script. They had a great time and promised to give a copy of their video to the library. That never happened. Thinking it might have been posted on YouTube, I searched. It wasn't there, but I did find this amazingly odd video depicting a ride on the public elevator between the second and third floors. It's a short ride, and a short video, but it manages to convey how little there is to do in an elevator except stare at the walls and wait for the doors to open.

I watched Conan the Librarian and a couple library jokes, and checked GoogleVideo briefly, too. I also looked for instructional videos on how to fix a faucet, prepare a powerpoint, make ratatouille, and knit. Success! Suggesting YouTube as a source in response to how to... reference questions is something I definitely will try.

Thing 17 ELM Productivity Tools

What would we do without ELM? I think of it as the Minnesota Miracle for students of all ages and for adults, too, who have myriad interests to explore. Having a statewide set of resources, available to everyone through their school library media center or public library, is wonderful. I remember a sense of pure exhiliration when state support for ELM became part of the base funding formula. That eliminated the need to lobby during every budget year for continuing the ELM subscriptions and provided a sense of security that ELM was a permanent resource, recognized as valuable by the legislature.

I explored Web 2.0 options on EBSCOHost and set up a folder. I was unable to load the QuickTime video with instructions for creating a web page but forged ahead on my own. Seemed to work out OK.

The challenges available with Thing 17 all look worth exploring, and I'll plan to come back to them later.

Thing 16 Assignment and Research Project Calculators

These are extremely useful and helpful tools. I've seen both before and appreciated their value for students. Parents, too, would benefit from knowing about these as a way to help their students plan a step-by-step approach to organizing the work needed to complete an assignment well and on time. As the mother of adult children who once were students, I would have loved an ally that set target dates and task lists, a sort of neutral third party to spur students forward in their work. They'd be useful for school visits, too, both visits with students and with teachers.

In response to the second question, I can imagine using these in my own work. Example: I'll be working with our children's librarians to explore service guidelines, best practices, and benchmarks. To prepare, I'll want to do some background reading first as a way of becoming more familiar with current thinking about children's services. Using the RPC which has a Library Science category is worth a try.

Thing 15 Libraries and Games

I've heard Michael Stephens' presentation on Library 2.0, including his extensive and enthusiastic comments about Second Life, so I was eager to explore that virtual world.

My work computer will not support a membership, so I confined myself to exploring numerous links on the site. I remember hearing that there was a flourishing economy of SL and found a whole raft of postings for Second Life jobs with detailed job descriptions and application requirements. None listed salary ranges. After finding a reference to Linden dollars on another SL link, I wonder if that's how staff are paid. I also discovered a column with the startling (to me) news that the Electric Sheep Company and Edelman PR, among others, were making a real (as well as a virtual) living on SL. The economic statistics page listed virtual land sales, resident transactions in Linden dollars, and also population statistics.

By contrast, I was surprised to note that a Victorian neighborhood in SL had a 19th century library and that the Land of Lincoln, a SL teen grid, is set in the 1850s and 1860s. Quite a mix of period nostalgia and current technology. I noticed that the Alliance Library System has done extensive work on SL, and found a long list of libraries that have some kind of a presence on SL. Because I could not join, I was unable to visit Info Island and learn about library services there.

What does it all mean? What is the organizing principle? Perhaps it is simply life with all its complexity adapting to a new dimension.

My experience with Puzzle Pirates was puzzling. I made an avatar, started an adventure, and found that I simply do not know how to fight with swords. Nor do I want to learn, so I will leave that to others.

The recent debate about reading, and especially whether the type of reading needed for gaming is different from that needed to read books is of great interest. I'll continue to follow that carefully.

Thing 14 Library Thing

I first heard about Library Thing from a colleague at Hennepin County Library in 2004. She used it as a reader's advisory tool at work and demonstrated it at a Readers' Advisory Roundtable meeting. When I checked today, I discovered that she has almost 900 books in her library, an impressive total. And she has published three reviews as an Early Reviewer.

I set up a very small (ten titles) library as a starting point, explored the various groups, read reviews, and checked out the FAQ for Library Thing Early Reviewers. The concept of bidding to review a book intrigued me although I noticed that the number of people who want to review titles vastly outnumbers the number of titles available.

Library Thing is an ideal tool for libraries to use in sharing book news with customers. Categorizing titles by format, audience, appeal factors, classics, accelerated readers, the list is endless. On a personal level, I will use Library Thing as the 'next gen' version of my trusty reading journal which superseded boxes of scrap catalog cards I used to use as my reading record.

Thing 13 Productivity Tools

Exploring this wide range of tools was instructive and fun. With its endless options (weather, YouTube, music, art...), setting up a homepage on Google was the most enjoyable. The first pass took just a couple minutes, and I already had more information on the page than I'd be likely to use regularly. After some deletions, I saved the page and will try using it for a while to see whether it is useful. Will it be a permanent homepage? Time will tell.

When I got to the calendars, I wanted to try Kiko because the evaluation in Wired was so favorable, but it would not load. I noticed comments from others who had the same experience.

The project management tools (Basecamp, Zoho Projects) looked appealing. I wish I had known about them a couple months ago when I was searching for a simple, clear project management template to track outreach efforts at the library. Though I did not sign up for an account, I'll keep these tools in mind for future projects. I also liked Backpack which would be used to keep standard answers to common questions and talking points about library projects in a single spot, accessible to everyone on staff.

Thing 12 Social Media Sites

I've noticed icons for social media sites on various websites, idly wondered what they meant, and moved on. Now I know what they are and how the sites work. I explored each one, noting that the story about Morgan Freeman's accident appeared among the most popular on all four, Digg, Newsvine, Reddit, and Mixx. Stephanie Meyer's Breaking Dawn is big news at my library this week, so I expected to find lots of articles. Turns out Mixx had a bunch, Reddit and Digg had none, and Newsvine was still searching when I gave up.

Always drawn to the odd story and quirky news items, I was interested to read about the Ohio inmate suing the state on the grounds that he is too fat for execution. He contends that the lethal injection drugs would not work properly because of his weight. Now there's a story I'd like to follow. Today the Ohio Attorney General's Office had no comment as they had not yet seen the suit.

I finished my tour by sharing a New York Times article via delicious. I doubt that I will spend much time on these sites. RSS feeds from sites I know will be of interest have a bigger claim on my time.

Thing 11 Tagging and Delicious

News flash! Forget about the odd punctuation you learned to find del.icio.us on the web. Just yesterday, 7/31/08, the new address is simply delicious.com. According to the What's New page, the plethora of variations on the earlier version finally persuaded the designers to remove punctuation from the name entirely, a good move, I think.

Being able to bookmark sites and access them from any computer is a fine feature, one that is attractive enough to persuade me to try it. With one exception, the library applications I looked seemed OK but not great. The exception: San Mateo Public Library which bundles tags within Dewey ranges, allowing the user to search for tags or by Dewey.

On my own delicious account, I bookmarked travel sites for Hangzhou, China. One of them was bookmarked by 35 other people, some of whom had added notes. Seems like clutter to me though I can imagine using delicious as a tool for environmental scanning. Just knowing which sites have been bookmarked by the most people could indicate issues and topics of timely and broad interest.