Posts tagged ‘communication’
Participation in a 2.0 World–"Be the change you want to be"
“Participatory. Open. Playful. Transparent Make these part of your motto, your vision, and build services and staff with them in mind. My hat is off to the libraries that create teams—made up of employees from all levels—for planning, that allow staff members to blog about those plans, and that take time to experiment and play with new technologies and tell their users exactly what they are up to. We can’t control every little thing that happens in our libraries, and really, should we even want to?” -Michael Stephens’
(from 2007 LTR Introduction, see below)
I just got back from a two-week leave, helping my son get established in his new life in the Army National Guard in Arkansas since returning from the Middle East a few weeks ago. I used several social software tools to stay in contact with him while he was gone. And although nothing can top my excitement of seeing him, in person, back safe in the U.S. after being gone for over a year, I think Michael’s new report was pretty high up on my list of favorites last week. I think you will love this report as much as I did/still do.
Technorati Tags: Michael Stephens, collaboration, communication, Library Garden, library 2.0, social software, web 2.0
Mashups and Other New or Improved Collaborative Social Software Tools
Following up on two articles–both available at robertlackie.com/ under the “Selected Online Materials” page–published in late 2006 on Web 2.0 and social networking sites of interest to librarians and teachers, a colleague of mine at Rider University and I (Robert D. Terrio and Robert J. Lackie) just published another article in MultiMedia & Internet@Schools magazine continuing the discussion of practical free tools and technologies that teacher-librarians are currently using.
This article, “Mashups and Other New or Improved Collaborative Social Software Tools,” has just become available in HTML full text within the EBSCO Academic Search Premier database and soon in PDF within Wilson databases as well as at the MMISchools.com site. The goal of our article was…
…to continue the discussions of practical Web 2.0 tools and social networking sites that have been brought up in this magazine and at recent school librarian conferences and to highlight other collaborative tools and exciting developments in free Web 2.0 social software, items we will categorize as “Useful Collaborative Tools” and “Practical Mashups.”
We see that librarians and other educators are continuing to learn about and integrate Web 2.0 technologies and collaborative tools in practical and worthwhile ways, and we think it’s very exciting to be a part of it! We hope that you will take the time to read the article, check out the sites, explore the references, and share these and your opinions with all of us.
Additionally, if integrating Web 2.0 into the classroom or library is new to you, read, watch, listen to, and play with many of the interesting resources listed at the Web 2.0 info site of Kathy Schrock, one of my favorite authors and presenters, and continue to come back and visit us at the Library Garden for more discussions, communication, sharing, and creating of valuable content to and ideas for librarians and other educators!
Technorati Tags: collaboration, communication, Library Garden, mashups, social software, web 2.0
Multiple Tools = Multiple Work!?
The always smart and thought-provoking Claire over on the PALS Plus 2.0 blog wrote about “living in interesting times,” referring to living in these times of great change that are taking place right now and how much fun and frustrating it can be!
Specifically, she talks about how to choose the “right tools” to accomplish things. She wants to announce the PIMP MY BOOKCART contest to PALS Plus libraries and figures that right now, the best place/way to announce it is still using “1.0” methods, i.e., group e-mail. However, PALS Plus will be launching a “Fall Into 2.0” program and perhaps by October, and most likely (hopefully!) by next June’s contest, there will be other, multiple ways that she can get the word out and be assured that everyone will see it.
I started thinking about this…. My first reaction is “put it out there in as many ways as possible” because I feel that this philosophy is what sort of underlies a lot of 2.0 stuff – make things accessible in many different ways in case some people access you in those ways. Make it easy and convenient for them to get it, in ways they like and use. In other words, be where they are, put it where they are.
So, that would mean, have it posted on a blog, with an RSS feed, AND send a mass e-mail, AND post it up in flyers for the pre-2.0 and barely-1.0 folk, put it up on facebook, etc., and make a flickr account with pictures, and, and, and …!?
BUT THAT got me thinking, oh my gosh – is putting stuff out in MULTIPLE forms creating MULTIPLE work for US!? Now, in some cases no. Once you have these things in place they sort of take care of themselves, meaning, if she posts it to the blog, it will have (most likely) an RSS feed and anyone subscribed will see it. Also, if she uses feedblitz and anyone is signed-up for that, they will get the e-mail notification. That still only requires ONE post. One post and many ways to be made aware of it. In fact, RSS takes care of a lot of things – anything you can do that has the feed makes it a one-stop-job. If she did put something on flickr, there’s a feed for that too, so now we have TWO places and still only TWO things to do, but resulting in several means of people being “told” about it.
No wonder people make the point that RSS IS 2.0 – it is the backbone of the whole thing!!!!!
The 2.0 forms actually really do and should cut down not only on the time and effort required by those who take advantage of them, but also for the creators…. Hanging up flyers and putting memos in individuals’ mailboxes at work – decidedly two pre-2.0 (even pre-1.0?) ways to do things – requries A LOT more time and effort to do than ANY of the 2.0 tools do, even if you choose more than one.
So, sorry, Claire, no answers here, except for my idea (and concern) that things should be put out there in as many ways possible – without overburdening the putter-outer.
And, I agree, eventually the “better” tools will last and the not-so-good or not-so-useful will naturally fall by the wayside. But, I think it will always be “interesting times,” and there will always be the next thing coming down the pike . . .
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