OLJ Activity - 4Cs of Social Media

Visit ASU's collection of The Library Minute videos and view five (5) of these one minute videos, then visit two (2) of the other Web 2.0 tools used as part of the ASU Library Channel suite at http://lib.asu.edu/librarychannel/.

Write a critical evaluation on ASU Libraries' use of these platforms to achieve the 4Cs of social media.

Arizona State University (ASU) Libraries have a collection of YouTube clips entitled The Library Minute. I viewed five of these, including The Library Minute: The Social Connection and explored ASU Libraries Facebook page and podcasts. I can appreciate their attempts to achieve the 4Cs of social media – collaboration, conversation, community and content creation, however, I feel they have fallen short.

The Library Channel is ASU Libraries blog sharing content pertaining to news, events and announcements. Trolling through the blog it does not appear there is much collaboration in the presentation of content published. Although it can be inferred a number of people are responsible for content creation as content covers current exhibitions, historical podcasts and YouTube clips on The Library Minute series. 

It does not appear the intended audience, ASU LIbraries' users, are participating in the conversation with them. For example, the Facebook page has only 575 likes, rather small scale for a University and the latest post from 11 days ago (7 Dec) about study tips for upcoming exams only had 3 likes and 2 shares. Hardly having a collaborative conversation with the community.

The Library Minute Series on YouTube consists of a number of brief, informative and fairly engaging clips. However, some appeared to have been created a number of years ago, thus not presenting the most current of content creation. The comments I read by viewers also did not appear to be from ASU students, thereby presenting evidence ASU Libraries are not engaging in the conversation with their community. Anali is the only 'character' in The Library Minute series. The inclusion of other ASU students in these clips will assist in collaboration and building community between the library and its users.

ASU Libraries are on Twitter and it appears they are achieving more success in achieving the 4Cs of social media using this social media platform. They have 2474 followers on twitter and have 1768 tweets. This is more of a community than the Facebook group has generated. Tweets are fairly regular, with nine tweets in the last week. It does not appear though users of the library are communicating with the library through Twitter. This conversation is very much one-way communication from the library.

McBurnie (2007) argues a library's use of a social networking tool must be purposeful. In this case I question ASU Libraries' use of social networking tools just for the sake of using another web 2.0 platform and focus on the tools that generate conversation with their community. I feel ASU Libraries should adopt Schrier (2011) principles for integrating social media into their overall strategic plan. In particular principles #1 listening and #2 participation will assist in ASU Libraries in engaging with ASU Library students in social media. 

McBurnie, J. (2007, October 1). Your Online Identity: Key to Marketing and Being Found [Web Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://web.freepint.com/go/blog/2510

Schrier, R. A. (2011). Digital librarianship and social media: the digital library as conversation facilities, D-Lib Magazine, 17(7/8) July/August 2011. Retrieved from http://dlib.org/dlib/july11/schrier/07schrier.html

Library 2.0 Meme Map

 























by Bonaria Biancu (2006), http://www.flickr.com/photos/bonaria/113222147/sizes/o/

This image is copied from CSU Interact material Module Library 2.0 and Participatory Library Services INF506 (2013).

OLJ Activity - RSS Feeds

State Library of NSW and Australian Library and Information Association are two examples I found of RSS feeds in action. 


Both included news, events and media releases in their feeds. This is a useful way for users to be updated on current happenings within the organisation. 


In addition, the State Library of NSW had collection feeds, alerting users to new material added to the collection. Users are able to search new acquisitions by subject, format, language or as a complete list. I can see this feature being particularly useful for regular users of the library, as they will be alerted to the latest acquisitions. An avid reader may come across an acquisition of interest to them via the RSS feed that they may otherwise never have discovered if just searching the catalogue. 


ALIA had additional RSS feeds for job ads and training events. Users of ALIA’s website may find these two feeds particularly relevant as members of the association may be looking for employment or professional development and this RSS feed will alert them to updates without them having to continually search for it. The information will come to the user, rather than the user searching for the information. 

RSS feeds can bring new and exciting changes in the library to users without users having to go searching for something that they may not know exists. 

Is it a blog? Is it a Wiki? Is it a Facebook group? Or maybe a microblog? That is the Question!

Blog, wiki, Facebook group or microblog?????
That is the question!

I am deciding which social networking tool will best suit my Project.

The current tool is a wordpress blog. This seems suitable. However, I was thinking a wiki may be the way to go to enable the students and parents to contribute content. But after talking with my husband (let's call him 'the client') he does not want students and parents to contribute. That would require action on his behalf and with email, phone calls and text messaging already from parents who expect an immediate response, I can see his point. So I am back to siding with a blog.

I then had the thought of a closed Facebook group. But survey results have indicated only 43.33% would be interested in being a member of a closed Facebook group. 40% indicated they were not on Facebook, and a further 16.67% were on Facebook, but not interested in being a member of a closed group. That is, only 13 out of 30 respondents (to date) would be interested in a closed Facebook group, therefore this is not an appropriate social networking tool for this community.

Now for microblogging . . . My understanding to date of microblogging is that it is best suited to the workplace. Most of the boarding parents live in rural areas and the lack of reliable and fast internet connections can have implications for them. 

So I am back to thinking the blog is the way to go!

Social Networking Project

My project involves evaluating a blog my husband used this year to communicate with the parents of boarding school students. He is responsible for the care of around 50 Year 9 boys in an independent Catholic school in Sydney.

This year to increase communication between himself and the parents he set up a wordpress blog. His experience with wordpress stemmed from the utilisation of a blog for senior students in his curriculum area.

For the boarding parents he intended them to check in with his blog weekly. He posted a weekly newsletter to the blog, but also emailed the same newsletter. This had me thinking, how many parents are using the blog and how many just open their email. Other information on the blog were photos he had taken of the boys at school, leave forms (which are on the school website) and a map of their hometowns with a photo of each student taken at their home.

I felt he was not taking complete advantage of the blog for communication purposes. I believe he should not have emailed the weekly newsletter, but emailed occasionally to remind parents to be checking in with the blog weekly.

I also felt more information should be included in the blog such as:

• leave information, 
• details for weekend sport, 
• practical information for rural families visiting boys, such as what's on in Sydney and tourist attractions.

Preliminary reading of the survey I conducted of this year's parents and their use of the blog also revealed one respondent suggesting the need for information about visiting other schools for sport, such as venue details and where to park.

I am excited about revamping his blog and presenting it to him. 

Survey Monkey

I have just created my first survey using Survey Monkey. I am pretty impressed with how easy this application was to use. Sample questions enable me to select the most appropriate question type.

The survey can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CLZKQWW

I am surveying the current year 9 boarding parents to evaluate the blog my husband created for communication between himself and the parents. He wanted to create a one-way communication channel via a website. I don't believe a blog was the best way to do this and I believe he should be engaging in communication by way of social networking and not just one-way communication. He is keen to see the results from the survey as well.

My project is to take their evaluation and create a social networking community for the boarding house (students, parents and all boarding staff) using the most effective tool. I will look into the use of a blog, wiki, or closed Facebook group as to which will be the most effective tool to meet the boarding house's communication needs.

Adrian has just emailed out the survey with his end of year message to the parents. I am excited to check in later today to see if anyone has completed the survey.

After Your Final Status Update

I just watched one of the TED Talks from the module readings - Adam Ostrow: After Your Final Status Update.

What an interesting look at this generation and the vast amount of data that is created in one's lifetime, including facebook posts and content, tweets, blogs and videos. This generation is producing an archive of their life in a way that no generation has previously.

This concept had me thinking about the content I produce on facebook and question, would I be proud of my social media personality that will be viewed by my children??? It brings home that what is put online via social networking will remain out there. Very different indeed to the handwritten diary hidden in a drawer, where pages can be ripped out and torn into a thousand pieces or burnt by a candle.

Adam Ostrow also raised the concept of what happens when we are no longer alive to generate such content? He presented some ways in which technology can allow us to further generate content by predicting what we may tweet based on previously tweeted tweets. Very interesting indeed.

YouTube clip from Module 1 Web2.0 Social Networking and the Social Life of Information.

I am uploading this clip to my blog for a couple of reasons.
1. To have a link to it once the interact site is no longer available to me.
2. To see if I can embed a video in to my blog.

Definition of Web 2.0

Web 2.0 describes web sites and applications that allow anyone to create content and share online. Users can collaborate and communicate on user-generated content in a virtual community.

Examples of web 2.0 include social networking sites, blogs, wikis, folksonomies, video sharing sites, hosted services (YouTube, Flickr), web applications and mashups.

Assignment #1 - First Entry

a.     define what social networking is in own words

Social networking creates communities and enhances relationships through online interaction and collaboration of communities with shared interests. Social media provides an avenue for social networking by the creation and sharing of content.

b.     list what social networking technologies and sites you already use (for personal, work, study)

Facebook

I am a user of and contributor to Facebook. I upload photos and content, share content, comment on others’ content, inbox message as well as instant message friends. I mainly use Facebook for personal reasons, but have recently used it for study purposes through closed groups.

Pinterest

I am a user of and contributor to Pinterest. I search through other contributors’ Pinterest boards and repin to my own boards. I use Pinterest mainly personally. http://www.pinterest.com/rowbyrne/

Blogging

As part of my study for Masters of Education (Teacher Librarianship) I had to create a blog of my learning journey through the course.

http://librarylearnings.wordpress.com/

I am also a user and occasionally contribute to others’ blogs by way of commenting on posts. I follow ‘Mummy bloggers’ such as The Organised Housewife for personal use. http://theorganisedhousewife.com.au/

YouTube

I am a user of YouTube and have never contributed to it. I have used YouTube both personally and professionally.

c.      describe what you expect to learn from completing INF506

By completing INF506 I expect to learn how I can use social networking more professionally as currently I use it mainly for personal use.

I want to learn how to create a professional social media profile so my personal social networking does not blur with my professional life. I am planning on re-entering the workplace in 2015 and I want a professional online profile to follow me.

I am expecting to learn how to interact with students in a way in which they want to interact. I expect to learn how to bring the library to students through social networking as a way to encourage them to bring themselves in to the physical space of the library as well as the online world of the school library.

I would also expect to learn further applications of social networking tools I already use. I am expecting to learn how to be more of a contributor and not just a user of social networking tools. I have seen already through the Facebook page that one student uses Pinterest for suggested books and links to the library’s OPAC. This is an example of learning more applications of tools I already use.

OCLC Report (2007)

How do the concepts and findings in these sections (introduction, sections 1 & 2) of the OCLC report reflect your view of the socially networked world in 2013?  

The OCLC report discussed the point of internet users becoming information producers rather than information consumers. Taking in to account this report was published six years ago my anecdotal evidence would be this is even more so. 

News and current affairs programs now call for the public to upload video and news stories to social media which they incorporate in their news bulletins on television. Live feeds on programs such as Q and A include tweets from viewers live on the show, encouraging more banter to be tweeted in response.

The increase of reality television programs with viewer polls, tweets, and  Facebook comments creates social networking opportunities between users with shared interests. 

The report mentions MySpace which no longer seems to be used much anymore. And the omission of Twitter and Instagram are a sign the report is somewhat dated. This led me to ask where would twitter and Instagram fit between the defined social networking and social media. I believe they are aligned with social media as users primary purpose is to publish and share content.

De Rosa, C., Cantrell, J., Havens, A., Hawk, J. & Jenkins, L. (2007). Sharing privacy and trust in our networked world: A report to the OCLC membership. Dublin, Ohio: OCLC.

Creating the online Learning Journal

My first attempt of using blogger was last week when I set up the Online Learning Journal (OLJ) for INF506. I have used wordpress previously in the creation of my blog for the Master of Education (Teacher Librarian).

I have found blogger a more involved tool to use than wordpress. I believe this is because it appears blogger is a hub for myself where a number of different blogs can be created and with a homepage as the hub. I typed in all the blogs and websites that were suggested to follow from the subject outline. I believed I was adding these to my OLJ blogspot, however it appears they are listed on my homepage (the 'hub'). Will try and figure how to move these to the OLJ later.