Wrapping up with Social Networking

Social Networking they say, is where people are linked with other people through specific groups. This is most popular now through on-line websites such as Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, Hi5 etc. I was checking out the map from LeMonde showing the spread of popularity of social networking around the world. Australia is heavy on Myspace while the Asia Pacific dominates Friendster and Cyworld. South America is heavy on Orkut, while North America and Canada is for MySpace and Facebook. Europe has a balanced use of Bebo, Myspace, Skyblog and Facebook. The African Continent has the lowest use of social networking.

I also checked the American Library Association's and the British Library MySpace accounts and the Bebo of Rotorua Public Library. They are all very diverse with blog entries, videos. music, films, books, television, blurbs, forums, groups and so on. All this enables a wide social interaction for marketing and promotion.

A different kind of networking was the Communities of Practice website as it goes on to support professional networking between local government and the public sector. Current topics such as greenhouse, workforce, health issues etc. are addressed and members could connect with their own peers or experts through forums to share their knowledge and expertise with others.

Another site that was of interest was the East Renfrewshire Council in Scotland that promotes its services through Facebook. They are trying to promote their library services and leisure centres by inviting the community to leave comments, join discussion groups and forums via Facebook.

Checking out ALIA's Beyond the Hype symposium on web 2.0, they were trying to discuss the usefulness of web technologies to incorporate them into libraries. The site had links to web technologies, where members could try out the networking features and join in the discussions on-line.

Considering all these possibilities we can see that social networking plays a huge role, not only in our personal lives but also in our work environment. If we take 'libraries' which are all about 'communities' we can consider different ways of making libraries connect with communities in a big way. Since more and more people are into social networking, if we promote our library service through a social networking website, we are sure to attract a larger audience. This audience then grows, as their friends are added onto the network. Therefore, people accessing our libraries on-line will further grow. Through this on-line interaction, our libraries become more approachable to the community. We can promote our library collections, special events and other activities. We can invite people to join our library network - friends of the library! They can discuss books, films, programs, services etc. These are all promotional strategies for libraries. However, there is the downside to all this, as much as all the favourable opinions about your library, there will also be the negative criticism.

Seb Chan's findings on social networking to market libraries was quite refreshing. As the article suggests, by listening to your customers you know what they want. By talking with them you can promote your services and by identifying keen customers, you can promote via them for others to use our libraries. Customers then can support each other and support the library at the same time, by participating in discussions, forums via the social networking sites. The development of the library can then happen on these lines, as customers are turned into a resource for improvement and advancement of the library.

Second Life is more of an advanced version of on-line social networking. This 3D virtual world is new to me and after doing some reading on it I understand that libraries can be on Second Life! From what I gathered, you can have your own digital creation of your library on Second Life. This 3D "brought to life" effect can promote your library services, staff your Enquiries desk or even have your library catalogue. One could create virtual displays for promotion or even make use of your library photos. You could even create a meeting place for your library patrons who are interested in this virtual world.

I have finally reached the end of this program. It has been a rich learning experience for me. Each week has been rewarding and I had fun doing the various discovery and explore segments. In some, I managed the Adventure too, but was running short of time at the end. Thank you again to the nswpln team for putting together a fantastic piece of learning!

Online applications and tools in Week 11

I created a document and shared it with the nswpln team. I had a reply from them with my document edited/commented. This was a good start and I was able to see the potential uses of Google Docs. Even in our libraries we can collaboratively share our documents in the form of word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. Curently our library documents are shared on a network drive which can be accessed by all staff. However this is through our intranet. In Google Docs, documents are shared via the internet making them on-line documents which can be easily accessed from any computer. These documents can be collaboratively edited by your team members who can view the same document and not have to work on many copies of the same document.

I was also chekcing out Zamzar which can manage and convert for free text, videos, pictures and audio files. Although it cannot perform all that the pricely computer software packages do, Zamzar can do the work you want in a few easy quick steps.


The Slide show from Slideshare had other free on-line productivity tools (apart from Zamzar) which I thought were good as they were all free and could do wonders. Picnik was another tool for easy on-line editing of your photographs. I remember Picnik when I was on the Flickr Week. Photo editing is made fun with Picnik, by being very creative with fonts, shapes, frames and other special effects. I tried my hand at basic Picnik with one of my photos taken in Canberra. Looks OK for a first timer!

Then there is Doodle, where we can schedule and organise meetings, conferences, events, trips, holidays etc. in our work place or at home.

Writeboard and Omnidrive were similar to Google Docs, where yu can write, share, edit and compare changes to documents on-line by inviting other people.

Jott, they say is voice mail 2.0 and can be used instead of texting. Jott is where spoken words are transcribed and texted or emailed.

Ta-da list as the name suggests is a to-do list. Once again these lists are on-line and can be shared and edited. It can be your shopping list, daily things to do list, what to take on your trip list, party planning list and all those other lists which we all tend to have in our daily lives! These lists can be accessed by anyone on-line via a Ta-da list account.

Then there is the Senduit/SendIt for sending and sharing very large files without freezing up your email.

Slideshare can share your powerpoint presentations, a great feature of social networking. I did enjoy viewing the slide show on Slideshare.

That was a handful! I realise now, the number of new on-line applicaitons and tools out there which I did not know.

For libraries, Google Docs, Writeboard, Omnidrive etc. could be used on projects where team members can can view material update/edite and collaboratively share one document. Sometimes, staff are at different locations and due to other work commitments, it can be hard for them to attend team meetings. In such instances their work plans, ideas, suggestions, input can be via these tools. These applications could be used for preparing library policies and standards which are on-going. Doodle can be used for scheduling meetings where all team members can pick an agreable date & time and control calendars. With Picnik, you could do wonders for your library photos - ideal for advertising and promoting your library.

The slight drawback in all these on-line applications are that staff should have the knowledge in how to use these tools in order to make full use of all its features. Most tools are pretty straightfoward to use, but the number of applications available are great and to keep up with all that can be daunting at times. Staff training and keeping abreast of the new emerging applications is essential.

Mashups

Mashups is a new feature I learned through this course. It's amazing what mashups can do by combining features of one application and mashing it up with another. I was checking out the Public Library Finder and thought it to be a good idea for locating libraries. We can also create maps of this sought and embed them on our library website, pinpointing the locations of all our branches and also having extra features such as getting directions from here to there, to your local library! And these are maps to scale, so distances could also be measured accurately.

London: a life in Google maps was also very informative, featuring a virtual exhibition of maps through history covering different timelines. On these lines, it would be good if our libraries can make use of this feature by mashing up the Local studies pictures with Google maps and creating our very own history of the local area in maps.

I also explored Keir Clarkes' Star viewer and navigated through sky maps, galaxy images and the interactive galaxy map where I saw the the new images issued by NASA to celebrate the 18th anniversary of the Hubble Telescope. All these images were possible due to the web technologies of Google maps. Under Virtual Tourism I also checked the Australian landmarks such as the Harbour Bridge, Sydney Opera House, Uluru, Great Barrier Reef etc. under maps, satellite and hybrid and tried out the other features such as zooming, panning and videos.

For my discovery I created this calendar.

This is a calendar I created using Big Huge labs. I linked my Flickr account onto Big Huge labs and uploaded a picture from my Fickr account. I noticed some very interesting 'artwork' one could create using Big Huge labs. You can come up with calendars such as above, you can create maps, jigsaws, pocket albums, movie posters, mosaics, wall paper, bead art, galleries, billboards and oh so many more! At a later time I would like to try my hand at creating some of these. In libraries, calendars would be a good way of promoting our services and programs. Apart from the printing costs, it is a cheap and easy way that can be produced in-house and you can highlight 12 areas of your library each year. I also think, jigsaws, billboards and movie posters (which can be changed to book covers) could also be made use of in libraries for advertising good books and promoting activities, special events etc. You could be very creative and use some of the features in Big Huge lab to make your library displays look unique, you could use mashups in library brochures or any other promotional material.