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Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki | Meredith Gorran, Librarian
What's *really* new on the Web, as opposed to buzzwords and soundbites?:
It’s an exciting time in terms of social software. I see three things:
Distributive conversations:
Blogging -- We see people who are unseemingly connected to each other, writing in each other’s blogs. We’ve built this community through hyperlinks. It’s all completely organic but leads to some pleasant suprises.
Bottom-up growth of online communities -- People are redefining what community means in the online world, and taking the initiative to help start and develop new social networks.
Wikis -– For a long time we had nonprofits, governments, and universities create online forums with very structured pattern. But wikis allow you to create a community as you see fit -– I think it’s really neat that sites like 43 Things allow people to support each other in their goals, whether they may want to lose weight or visit Mongolia.
Social bookmarking -- I think it’s helping us to make the invisible web more visible. I can’t tell you how many terrific articles I’ve found online via Delicious. It’s almost like building a trust –based relationship and I can easily suscribe to their RSS feed, which I can directly benefit from. In education, faculty members can bookmark for their students.
Distributive conversations:
Blogging -- We see people who are unseemingly connected to each other, writing in each other’s blogs. We’ve built this community through hyperlinks. It’s all completely organic but leads to some pleasant suprises.
Bottom-up growth of online communities -- People are redefining what community means in the online world, and taking the initiative to help start and develop new social networks.
Wikis -– For a long time we had nonprofits, governments, and universities create online forums with very structured pattern. But wikis allow you to create a community as you see fit -– I think it’s really neat that sites like 43 Things allow people to support each other in their goals, whether they may want to lose weight or visit Mongolia.
Social bookmarking -- I think it’s helping us to make the invisible web more visible. I can’t tell you how many terrific articles I’ve found online via Delicious. It’s almost like building a trust –based relationship and I can easily suscribe to their RSS feed, which I can directly benefit from. In education, faculty members can bookmark for their students.
Which tools best embody the new opportunities from your point of view and why?:
Pocasting and screencasting are exciting new educational tools. I’m using them to teach students how to use databases, but they could be used to demonstrate a wide range of subjects of interest.
Who's doing the best work with the new tools (technically or in terms of social benefit or both)?:
A ton of people in education are making great use of social software:
Wonderful educators like Allan Levine, Brian Lamb, Will Richardson, and Steven Downs work in total different areas but have students podcasting, blogging, and working to get the learners engaged in the process. They are taking ownership of learning more so than just writing a paper and turning it in. The whole class can look at a project and directly comment on it. Educators are fantastic and know how to share their success stories.
What's the bad news? What are the greatest barriers preventing web-based technology from producing social change?:
The biggest problem is the eco-chamber effect. When we blog, podcast, and create wikis, we’re sharing info with a very specific community of people. It’s like preaching to the choir – outside of the blogosphere or whichever community you’re a part of, it’s almost like there’s nobody else out there using the technology. As a librarian, I think it’s really important for us tech folks to get out of our comfort zone and educate the world. Try to talk about Web 2.0 technology with public librarians in rural Vermont – that’s the real world challenge that we face, and we have to be concrete. Even if we can convince people that wikis, tec. are great tools, it’s difficult to get them to use this technology. The greater question is, how do we get people to use these tools, even if they are easy to use?
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