Social Networking

Social networking has become a huge phenomena, over 42 000 000 people in the US use facebook alone (istrategylab). Many websites and blogs have been created based on social networking sites. One of these websites is lamebook. This site allows people to "bust" their friends who have posted things on facebook that are lame. Sites like this highlight that facebook and other social networking sites are open to the public and people need to remember that when they post to their accounts.

I have been using social networking sites for quite a while. I have been a member of facebook since 2006, and before that I used hi5, myspace and nexopia. I quit hi5 because very few of my friends were on the site. Nexopia I quit because I was starting to feel really old being on there, and it was beginning to feel more like a dating service. I never really gave myspace a try, so I thought for the purposes of this blog I would go back and explore my myspace page. I have not used the service in about four years, and had completely forgot my password. Luckily, it was easy for them to e-mail my password to me. One thing that I noticed as I was logging in is the main page has a feature to help find people with certain characteristics in a certain area. I don't really like this because it makes it feel like a dating service. Once I logged on the one thing I noticed first is that they now allow you to customize your myspace homepage. I really like that aspect of it and I wish that was something that facebook would adopt. I don't find myspace's format to be as intuitive as facebooks. I find it really hard to find stuff on their site, and the advertising on the side is distracting. This could just be because I am used to facebooks format, but I don't find myspace very easy to use. Myspace has most of the same features as facebook such as messaging, chatting, video/photo uploads, status updates and much more. The only thing that really distinguishes the two is the format in which they present these features. For me, facebook is more user friendly. The thing that I like most about facebook is their privacy settings, I like that I can regulate who gets to see my profile.

I use facebook mainly as a way to stay connected to friends and family, and as a way to store and share my photos. Facebook is making it increasingly easier to stay in touch with friends and family. The website started out as a site for college students, but it has grown a lot from there. The fastest growing demographic for the site is now 35-54 year olds, with a growth rate of 276%. The next fastest growing demographic is people aged 55+, with a growth rate of 194%. While these demographics have the highest growth rates, the largest demographic is still college students, who make up 41% of the users on facebook (istrategylabs). These changing demographics mean that I am able to connect with more people that I know, but libraries can also reach a wider audience as well.

Edmonton Public Library has a facebook page. On it they post events, contests, new books, photos and videos. The facebook page is another way for the library to reach out to people where they are, and update followers. Social networking can also be used to connect people and allow them to discuss books or assignments. This can be done through the creation of a group on facebook or through facebook chat (Stewart, Paulette).

It may be a good idea for librarians to have a facebook page as well that they mention to students so if they have a reference question they can ask this way as well. The problem is that you don't want to appear pushy, allow the students to come and befriend you (Connell, Ruth Sara). Social networking sites and their encouragement by public libraries also offer the library an opportunity to teach teens about safe online use and interactions (Denise Agosto, June Abbas).

Schools can take advantage of the facebook aplication shelfari to encourage reading. Unlike a lot of facebook applications, the shelfari application links its users to the shelfari website and the users of that website. So even if someone does not have a facebook account, they can still benefit and communicate through the shelfari website. This application is great because it allows users to share books that they have read and rate and review them (Paulette Stewart). Students are already using social networking sites, the ability to bring learning to them in an environment they enjoy could be very beneficial. Though the use of social networking sites in schools could be a great addition there are several problems with its use. I have already discussed that there is a false sense of privacy when people use a social networking site, but there are also problems with schools allowing social networking sites because they use a lot of bandwidth, not to mention that hackers may use social networking sites as a means of infecting computers with viruses. Many schools use internet filters, so using social networking sites may not even be an option if they cannot be accessed. Children are now starting to build relationships online, and the meaning of friend is begininng to change. The problem is that it is hard to build meaningful relationships online (Doug Fodeman, Marje Monroe).

Though social networking sites hold a lot of potential for educators they have many problems too. I think that before they are used in a school/library setting people should be educated about problems that can arise when the sites are used improperly.

FACEBOOK AND VIRTUAL LITERATURE CIRCLE PARTNERSHIP IN BUILDING A COMMUNITY OF READERS.Full Text Available By: Stewart, Paulette. Knowledge Quest, Mar/Apr2009, Vol. 37 Issue 4, p28-33, 6p.

Academic Libraries, Facebook and MySpace, and Student Outreach: A Survey of Student Opinion.Citation Only Available By: Connell, Ruth Sara. portal: Libraries & the Academy, Jan2009, Vol. 9 Issue 1, p25-36, 12p.

TEENS AND Social NETWORKING: HOW PUBLIC LIBRARIES ARE RESPONDING TO THE LATEST ONLINE TREND.Full Text Available By: Agosto, Denise E.; Abbas, June. Public Libraries, May/Jun2009, Vol. 48 Issue 3, p32-37, 6p.

Facebook: A School Librarian's Tool for Building a Community of Readers
Paulette Stewart. International Association of School Librarianship. Selected Papers from the ... Annual Conference. Brantford: 2008. p. 1 (17 pages).

the impact of Facebook on our students
Doug Fodeman, Marje Monroe. Teacher Librarian. Seattle: Jun 2009. Vol. 36, Iss. 5; p. 36 (5 pages).

Multimedia Sharing

Before I begin to explore the topic of multimedia sharing I need to know two things :
1. what is multimedia sharing and how is it different from photo/video sharing?
2. what are mashup sites?

According to Participatory Media Guidebook "multimedia sharing sites facilitate the storage, sharing, and sometimes creation of audio, images/photos, and video." Based on this definition, a multimedia sharing site is similar to a photo/video sharing site since it can do both these things, however, it also allows you to create and blend audio, images, and video. I guess if you think about what a mashup site is it is self-explanatory. It is a site that combines web features. Web 2.0 Directory: eConsultant gives a list of sites that combine services from other websites. These sites combine sites like delicious, google, yahoo, social networking and many others.

To try out multimedia sharing I thought I would use animoto. I have never even heard of it before and had no idea what to expect. The site allows you to create a slideshow of your photos and add music. It was so much fun! I could have sat and created short videos of all my photos. It made it so much fun to look at them again. It was so easy to use, you could pull photos straight from facebook or other sites that allow you to store photos. You can add your own music or music they provide to your video. I liked that they used bands I had never heard of before, I'm sure that it is good promotion for these bands and the site allows you to buy the music that you add to your video if you want, which is another nice feature. After you're done creating the video you can share it on youtube, facebook, or post it to a blog like I have done. Teachers can apply to create unlimited videos. This site is a fun way to get students to create videos, and it is so easy to use. It allows them to be really creative. The site provides case studies that show what some schools have done with animoto. One class created an anti-bullying video, while others have used it for end of year projects or to supplement the lesson. I watched the anti-bullying video that is on the site as an example of what can be done with animoto and it is very good for a fourth grade class. I think it goes to show you that if children enjoy what they are doing then they can create something that's really great. Mine is not quite as cool as theirs, but it was really fun to make.




Another multimedia sharing site is voicethread. Voicethread is interesting because it allows someone to upload an image, document, or video then others can comment through many means including video, audio, and typing. Because it offers users the ability to interact in advanced and basic ways, anyone can participate. Voicethread would be great for educators of university and grade school students. Teachers can use voicethread to have students illustrate, upload and narrate their own stories, or post illustrations and have each student create a narrative and see how they differ. Professors can post videos, documents or images and students can discuss. This allows discussions to occur that are more interactive, and is especially handy for web courses. Both animoto and voicethread blew me away. They were a lot of fun to use and were both two sites I had never heard of before. Both of them have a lot of potential for use in schools.

A multimedia sharing site that I came across is Cozimo. Cozimo allows you to upload a video, photo, or document and then lets others comment. Commenting can be done through messaging and markup of the image. People are able to draw directly on the image, then add text explaining why they have marked that image. This commenting does not have to be done alone, review sessions can be held, and everyone can comment together. Cozimo means that people can discuss ideas from all over and do not have to be together to edit something. Cozimo would be a great way for students working on an assignment that is visual to collaborate and edit, though since it allows documents to be uploaded and marked it would be useful for almost any group project. A review session is a nice feature because people are able to get together from wherever they are, which is always an issue with group work.

Multimedia sharing provides many useful tools for schools and libraries. Schools can use multimedia sharing sites for collaboration on schoolwork, or as a creative way to make videos of school functions, for the curriculum, or for fun. Libraries can use the sites as a fun way to introduce people to what's new in the library, or as a way for colleagues to collaborate much easier.

Multimedia sharing is still pretty new so there is not a lot of literature or guidance on the topic for schools and libraries. The best thing for them to do is learn about specific sites, play with them and try to think of ways to implement them. A lot of the multimedia sites give ideas for what it can be used for and this is a good starting point for schools and libraries.

Wikis

Imagine not only being able to access huge amounts of information, but also be able to edit and add to these pages. Wikis allow users to work collaboratively to edit information on a web page.

Last year I took a class for school that required us to create a wiki. Prior to that I thought that wikipedia was a site with lots of awesome information, but did not realize that wiki was a technology. Wikis are websites that allow users to edit the information on the page (Lamb, Annette; Johnson, Larry). Since this discovery I have actually been using wiki technology quite a bit. I used it for two of my classes last semester that had group activities. I have always hated group work because I found it impossible to find time for everyone to get together and collaborate. Creating a wiki meant that people could contribute on their own time and when it was convenient for them. I think it made our group work much easier to complete. An aspect of wikis I also like is that they allow you to post comments so you remain interactive with your group even though you may work on the project separately. (I was not able to put a link to my wiki since you have to be invited to participate, but if you would like to view how I used to wiki for school let me know and I will add you). As university students we became aware of the use of wikis to make group work easier. For younger students the teacher may have to create the wiki for the students. The students can then use the wiki for group collaboration, as I have used it, or to collaborate as a class on topics.

Perhaps the best known wiki is wikipedia. It is the fourth most visited website in the world (About wikimedia). Before I even knew about the wiki technology I regularly used wikipedia, though I didn't understand how people could add/change information on the site. Wikipedia, like other wikis, allows its users to create, edit and add to pages. Anybody can change the information on a page, but if it is changed to something incorrect it is changed back very quickly. I once changed some information on a page to see if it would go unnoticed, and within an hour when I checked back it was corrected. Because wikipedia pages are created and maintained by many people it works as a kind of peer review system. Often the information found on wikipedia is of a very high quality. Last year I worked on a reference desk at the university, if students asked me for an overview of a topic and everything that I could find was too in depth I would point them to wikipedia. I wouldn't recommend using it as a reference in a paper since many professors frown upon the use of wikipedia, but using it to get an idea of a topic is fine. Why is using wikipedia in a paper frowned upon? I think the quality of information is better than information found on a random personal web page, at least wikipedia has some sort of a review process.

Besides wikipedia there are many other wiki sites. Wikipedia has many similar pages that are all part of wikimedia. Wikimedia is a not for profit company aimed at dispersing knowledge in many languages all across the world.



Besides wikipedia, wikimedia offers:
wikibooks - provides free textbooks and manuals
wikiversity - offers free learning tools
wiktionary - is a dictionary and thesaurus
wikiquote - is a collection of quotations
wikispecies - is a directory of species
wikinews - is a free content news source
wikisource - provides free course documents
wikimedia commons - provides freely usable media files.

Wikimedia offers free information on a wide range of topics. It is useful for any school teacher or university student. Social studies teachers can take advantage of wikinews to assist their students in learning about current events. Wikispecies is great for biology teachers, and wikimedia commons is great for any teacher looking for resources to supplement a lesson. While the sites offered by wikimedia are helpful for teachers in North America, the goal of wikimedia is to offer free resources to students and teachers in countries that do not have the same resources at their disposal as in North America.




Wikis can be used by libraries to provide information for their users. St. Joseph County Public Library has created a wiki to provide their users with subject guides. Users choose a topic and the library provides helpful links, books, or articles depending on what information the user requires. WikiHow is a great site for teachers as well. It gives teachers ideas for demonstrations for their students and how to do them. For example, physics teachers can create a cartesian diver to demonstrate Newton's third law of motion. Anything that you could ever possibly want to know can be found in there. It is even helpful for everyday things that may occur in a classroom such as getting gum out of hair. Events like these are bound to happen, and wikiHow will tell you what to do.

Wikis can also be used to aid in collaboration between teacher and between teachers and librarians. Teachers can post lesson plans and librarians can view them and see if they can assist the teacher in any way. It is always important for parents to be involved in their childrens education. Teachers can create a wiki for their students to use, but allow parents viewing privileges so they know what is going on in the classroom (School Librarian's Workshop).

The American Association of School Librarians has create the AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner. Among these standards are a familiarization with technologies necessary in the workplace, and to give learning a social context. Using a wiki in a classroom fulfills both these standards. Students are being exposed to new technologies and wikis require students to work collaboratively.

It is important for a teacher, school or library to pick a wiki that will work best for them and their students. There are so many wikis out there it is hard to know which one to choose. WikiMatrix is a website that allows you to compare wikis to see which will work best. The list of wikis is very comprehensive, and comparing them is as simple as selecting two wikis then clicking compare.

Wikis do not always have to relay information, they can also be used for fun. Though sites like Uncyclopedia and Wackypedia do not contain useful information, unless the list of lesser known scrabble words counts, but they are fun to view. Getting students to create nonsensical words and wiki posts can be a fun exercise too, it gets them using new technology and their imagination.

Connecting with Wikis.Full Text Available School Librarian's Workshop, Jun/Jul2009, Vol. 29 Issue 6, p22-22, 2/3p

Wikis and Collaborative Inquiry.Full Text Available By: Lamb, Annette; Johnson, Larry. School Library Media Activities Monthly, Apr2009, Vol. 25 Issue 8, p48-51, 4p

Let's get digital.

What could be better than the wealth of information found in a library at home on your computer? This has become a reality with digital libraries. Digital libraries offer online information and resources to its users to use at their convenience.

One thing that I find very confusing is what is the difference between a digital library and a library website? According to The DELOS Digital Library Reference Model a digital library is "an organization, which might be virtual, that comprehensively collects, manages and preserves for the long term rich digital content, and offers to its user communities specialized functionality on that content, of measurable quality and according to codified policies." Based on this definition, it seems that a library website is a representation of a physical entity whereas a digital library does not have to be. I think what was confusing me is that I thought of a digital library and a library website as two separate things, but a libraries website can be a digital library if it provides digital content for its users. For example, Springfield Township high schools virtual library represents a physical entity, but the World digital library does not.

I feel that the two most important aspects of a virtual library are content and usability. I recently completed a course on web design for usability. Because of this course I now judge websites based on how well they function for the user. Springfield Township high school has a great virtual library based on the content they offer. The site is very interactive, and the graphic that students can click on is fun, but there are some key usability issues with the website. The upper part of the website with the graphic is great, but anything that did not fit on the picture has been thrown on the bottom of the page. Links should be organized based on similarities and places under appropriate headings and labels. There are no headings for the links, just long lists under the picture, and these long lists seem to be in no particular order. Another usability problem with the virtual library site is that the picture takes up the whole page when it is first loaded so users do not see that they have to scroll down for more information. Users tend not to scroll, they will look at the information in the middle or left side of the page, but will rarely look on the right or bottom. The less that is put on a page, the more likely people are to notice it. A general rule for web usability is to stick information in places where users expect it. While the picture on the homepage is nice, it takes up all of the screen and does not leave room for the elements that people expect on a homepage. There is no room for a side menu to organize the links on the bottom of the page. There is also too much information on the page, especially at the bottom. Links should be grouped into lists of no more than five links with the option of viewing more if there are more that fall under that heading. While the picture is interesting it is a bit gratuitous. The best thing to consider with web usability is simplicity. Before adding a photo, video or multimedia to a website, you should first consider whether the element makes it easier for the user to use the website. In this case the picture is a fancy graphic that makes the site more interesting, but also more difficult to use. And it is so large that it does not leave room for other important resources that are just listed randomly at the bottom of the screen (Jakob Nielsen, Hoa Loranger). An example of a website that provides lots of useful content and adheres to usability principles is International Children's Digital Library. This digital library has interesting graphics that do not dominate the page. There is a side menu with well labelled headings, and not too many links underneath. The links are all related in the headings. There is not too much scrolling on the homepage, and it is clear that there is content that needs to be scrolled down to read. This virtual library homepage is fun without being cluttered, this means that the user is able to locate and use all of the resources the site has to offer.

International Children's digital library has great resources for children, but for more mature students a good virtual library is WWW virtual library. WWW virtual library aims to catalogue internet resources, group them into headings and make them available to users. It groups internet resources into broad headings which are then broken into subdivisions. Many universities are beginning to create digital libraries. One of these universities is the University of Lethbridge. Like most other digital libraries, the University of Lethbridge's Dspace provides open access to all types of digital resources.



This podcast is a review of University of Lethbridge's digital library. It was created a year ago, however, University of Lethbridge's digital library has remained similar.

There is a Digital Library Federation with 37 member libraries. The aim of the Digital Library Federation is to bring together experts to aid in digital library projects for member libraries. What I like most about the members digital library sites is that they are interesting to look, while still allowing the users to easily access the information they house. I think they are all great models for what a digital library can become. While most of the digital libraries are associated with universities, there is one public library that is a member. New York Public Library has a digital library with lots of great resources.

Though the main goal of digitization is to provide resources to users now, it can also be used as a preservation method to prolong the life of the resource. Many libraries and archives are digitizing materials to broaden their reach to more users. Many of the digitized materials are too fragile for users to handle, by digitizing them and placing them on a website, users are not able to view materials they otherwise would not have been able to see (Ritzenthaler, Mary Lynn, and Diane Vogt-O’Connor). Another aspect of preservation that must be considered is preservation of the digital library itself. A digital library is not an object, therefore traditional preservation methods do not apply. Storage, software, and longevity must be taken into account when deciding how to preserve a digital library (Jean Marie Deken).

Digital libraries can be a great information source for classrooms. Many have great resources that both students and teachers can use. Digital libraries open teachers up to other resources from around the world. Sites like the World Digital Library provide primary sources from around the world. Teachers can use it to teach about new cultures, but it is also a good site to visit for personal interest (Ishizuka, Kathy).

Prioritizing Web Usability by Jakob Nielsen, Hoa Loranger. Online access : http://proquest.safaribooksonline.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/0321350316

Ritzenthaler, Mary Lynn, and Diane Vogt-O’Connor. 2006. Digitizing Photographs. In Photographs: Archival Care and Management. Chicago: Society of American Archivists.

Preserving Digital Libraries: Determining "What?" Before Deciding "How?". Deken, Jean Marie. Science & Technology Libraries, 2004, Vol. 25 Issue 1/2, p227-241, 15p

World Digital Library. Ishizuka, Kathy. School Library Journal, May2009, Vol. 55 Issue 5, p12-12, 1/3p, 6 color

Podcasting

Podcasting holds so many possibilities, and their convenience is great. You can download a podcast and listen to it at any time. Itunes alone carries over 100,000 podcasts, so there is sure to be one to interest everyone.

Last fall I took an introductory course in information technology. This was the first and only time that I have created a podcast, so I was a bit unsure how to go about creating one and posting it on my blog. I found eHow to be very helpful in providing step-by-step instructions on how to create and post a podcast. Eclass also has a podcasting service called ecast, which is what I used to create my podcast. I found the podcast creation process to be a bit frustrating. I used audacity to record my voice for the podcast. I really like it because it is really easy to use and is free open source software. The only problem is that you have to download a file that changes the audio file into a mp3. My computer would not unzip the lamelib file so that I could transfer my audio file into an mp3. I used Eclass' ecast program once I was able to create an mp3 file. I was very surprised at how easy it was to use this program. I often find Eclass to have a lot of little problems, but their ecast program worked very well and was easy to use. Aside from learning how to unzip the file to create an mp3, I found the process to actually be quite easy which took me by surprise. I was also surprised to learn that videos can be podcast, not just audio. I always associated podcasting with audio files, not with videos. Ecast gave me the option of uploading a audio or video file, prior to this I didn't know that video podcasting was possible.




If the podcast does not show up, please go to: https://ecast.srv.ualberta.ca/Podcasts/aeisen/xml/ed482d117cdae1426b04865c8ad75e30.xml

In order to explore the user side of podcasting, I signed up for a podcast. Itunes makes this so easy. I just had to subscribe to the podcast of my choice and each new time that there was a podcast I would download it. I chose to follow a music podcast, that featured new music daily. Now that I know how easy it is to follow a podcast on the user side of things, I will be following more podcasts.

Eclass suggests some ways that podcasts can be used in a learning environment. Podcasts can be used to discuss information that could not be covered in class, or highlight important information from a lecture. Students can use podcasting technology to share their views on a lecture, or submit projects.

In libraries or schools podcasts can be used to record audio or video of special guests or events, so that people who missed it can still listen.

If a school or library does decide to start podcasting there are some important considerations to keep in mind. Eclass has created a top ten for podcasting practices to help students and staff create quality podcasts.
#1. Be clear. Keep the listener in mind, and cater the podcast to the needs of the listener.
#2. Be prepared. Have a script or outline prepared to keep your podcast focused.
#3. Less is more. Begin with audio podcasting since it is easier, and quicker. Keep podcasts to the length of a commute (~ 10-20 min.).
#4. Get up close and personal. Speak to your listener, keep the tone conversational and be enthusiastic.
#5. Find your sweet spot. Find a quiet comfortable spot to record your podcast to minimize background noise.
#6. Practice, practice, practice. Practicing before recording a podcast helps to minimize problems when you are recording.
#7. Get technical. Use good quality equipment for high quality podcasts.
#8. Review and edit. Edit out problems then review your edit to make sure it is working properly.
#9. Learn from others. Listen to other podcasts to find ideas you like.
#10. Have fun.

What is the difference between video podcasting and video sharing? This is a question that is bugging me. Both video sharing and video podcasting allow the creator to upload the video to the web then have users to subscribe to channels to receive the latest updates. Based upon what I have learned about video sharing and podcasting, it seems that the difference is that video podcasting uses RSS feeds to supply the video to the user, instead of through a video sharing website.

An interesting way to connect to your students through podcasting is through itunes u. Librarians and educators can post podcasts to itunes u that are accessible via any computer all over the world. Students can download podcasts and listen to them at any time. The site has over 175, 000 educational videos, from schools and universities. Creators can choose whether they want their material to be accessible to all people or password protected so that just their students can access the material.

It is a good idea to have several access points to materials. Video sharing a video, and podcasting it give students to different ways to access a material. If they do not have time to view a video, then they can download the podcast and view it when they have time. This gives students multiple ways to access a video (Michel, Jason Paul). Besides relaying curriculum content, libraries can also use podcasting to provide guided tours of the library and its services (Bell, David; Lenihan, Debbie; Burholt, Steve).

Getting kids to record books, plays, stories is a great way for them to get interested in the material and share it with other people (In the classroom: kid podcasts of Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!). They can also use podcasting technology to recommend or critique books (Just one more book). The great thing about podcasts is that all of this can be done via audio or video, depending on whether you have the necessary technology.

Vodcasting, iTunes U, and Faculty Collaboration. Michel, Jason Paul; Hurst, Susan; Revelle, Andrew. Electronic Journal of Academic & Special Librarianship, Spring2009, Vol. 10 Issue 1, p6-6, 1p

The evolution of a podcast: printed guided tour to audio tour and beyond. Bell, David; Lenihan, Debbie; Burholt, Steve. ALISS Quarterly, Jan2009, Vol. 4 Issue 2, p14-17, 4p

Social bookmarking sites.

According to Pew internet and American life study, 28% of Americans have tagged internet content. This has led to a growth in popularity of sites like delicious and digg. The internet is growing at an extreme pace. It would be impossible for librarians to catalogue every site on the internet. Essentially, social bookmarking is the closest we have come to applying cataloguing principles to internet resources. Instead of a trained professional going out into the internet and applying subject headings, we are getting everyday users of the internet to do it themselves. Social tagging is allows ordinary people to do the job once reserved for trained professionals.

Delicious is one of the most common social bookmarking sites. It is different from personal internet bookmarking because not only does it allow users to bookmark websites, but it also allows them to group these bookmarks for personal use. Delicious allows its users an interactivity that personal internet bookmarking does not allow. There are many tags that can be used to describe a website, there is even a tag for web 2.0. When a tag is searched by a user, delicious automatically provides similar tags for the user.

Delicious was very easy to sign up for. It requires filling in just a few fields. The most difficult part of the registration process was trying to figure out the coded letters and numbers. A great feature of delicious is that once you are registered you can import your existing bookmarks to delicious. There are so many tags that can be applied to web sites, and it's nice knowing that there is a place on the web where I can organize web sites of interest to me and share them with others. Another great feature is that once you upload a website to be bookmarked delicious will suggest tags to apply to the site. So far I have been using delicious to store websites I have come across that are useful for me for future posts. This way I have an easy way to access them in the future. I have only saved just a few sites, you can view the few sites I have saved on my delicious page. I like that when you bookmark a site delicious tells you how many other people have bookmarked that site. Then you can go and look at what the people who have bookmarked the same site as you have also bookmarked. Delicious can be linked to blogs and your tags can be displayed, the only problem is that it requires you to manually go into the code in your blog and insert it.

The nice thing about delicious is that a library is able to set up an account through delicious, and can bookmark web pages they think may be of interest to their patrons. These bookmarks can be tagged based on subject or audience. This is a great way to point patrons to resources that may be useful. It also gives the patron an idea of what to expect when they go to the websites because of the tags and short description that can be applied to the bookmarked website. A library can bookmark sites with delicious, then extract the data from their delicious account to display on their personal web pages. While the process of creating and maintaining a delicious site, is not difficult, and could be done by anyone, extracting this data to place on a personal website requires some programming skills (Darby, Andrew; Gilmour, Ron). If this is too complex, Will Richardson gave a good idea. Apply a unique tag to a bookmarked page along with the regular tags, so users will know what has been tagged by a teacher or the library (Taming the beast : social bookmarking).

Another social bookmarking site is citeulike. Like delicious I had never used citeulike before either. It is not as flashy as delicious, but for a student it could come in very handy. Citeulike allows its users to bookmark and store scholarly papers from the web. Like delicious papers can be tagged and shared with other users. Citeulike is a great resource for academic libraries to promote. It allows users to view papers others have already found, and it can create a bibliography for its user. In addition to encouraging academic library patrons to use the library catalogue for their research, citeulike can be promoted as another place to begin research before asking a librarian for help. Citeulike and delicious would work well in conjunction with each other. Delicious can bookmark the non-academic websites, and citeulike can bookmark the academic papers. The problem is that using multiple social bookmarking sites could get confusing. According to 20 tips to define and manage your social networks, it is important to use only one social bookmarking site. This way users do not have to search through multiple sites to find their bookmark.

Penn State University's library has combined the functions of delicious and citeulike on their library website for their students. This takes the confusion out of where you have placed your bookmarks, everything can be stored in one location. Penn State University has created Penntags, which takes bookmarking technology and applies it to a university library setting. Penntags allows users to bookmark internet resources, online journal articles, materials from the catalogue and videos from their video catalogue. These bookmarks can then be tagged and placed into categories based on subject or course. Like delicious Penntags allows users to search tags, so there is an interactivity between users. Users can also subscribe to RSS feeds so whenever a certain tag is applied to an item they are notified via RSS feed (What is Penntags?). The appeal of both delicious and Penntags is that they are both very easy to use, and their capabilities far exceed those of traditional internet bookmarking.

Why should libraries follow the lead of Penn State university and allow their users to bookmark library resources? According to Tom Steele, internet users are beginning to expect a level of interactivity on the internet. These expectations do not change when a user enters a library site. Allowing users to tag is helpful for libraries because on top of the controlled vocabulary typical of a library, it also allows users to assign tags that may not be part of a controlled vocabulary.

Social bookmarking is a fantastic technology that places the power in the hands of the user, but this is also a problem with the technology. Synonyms can be problematic, as it is unlikely that the user will think to add all the words with the same meaning. Plurality is a similar problem. Users may also not distinguish between a word that has the same meanings (Tom Steele). These are issues that result from users tagging items, but librarians can make these mistakes too. In the end, the benefit of social bookmarking to everyone who takes advantage it, far outweighs the few negative results that can occur.

Tutorial: Adding Delicious Data to Your Library Website. Darby, Andrew; Gilmour, Ron. Information Technology & Libraries, Jun2009, Vol. 28 Issue 2, p100-103, 4p, 2 bw

The new cooperative cataloging. Steele, Tom. Library Hi Tech, 2009, Vol. 27 Issue 1, p68-77, 10p

Video sharing on the web.

According to an article in the New York Times, youtube has had 90 million visitors, which is ten times the amount of visitors of the next most popular video sharing site. These millions of viewers have created "youtube celebrities" of ordinary people. It is not just young people either, because it is so easy for anybody to post videos anyone can become "famous." Almost all of the videos on youtube were created by amateur video makers. While youtube is known for their amateur videos, they have signed an agreement to also provide television shows and movies to youtube audiences.

Youtube is widely popular, but there are some problems, which Michael Garrett Farrelly pointed out in his article "The possibilities of youtube." The quality of the videos are not always the greatest, both in the content and how they are viewed. The tags are created by users and can often be confusing or non-descript, such as "funny." Funny does not properly tell what a video is about. While these problems are annoying they are not easily fixed without stopping amateurs from creating videos. Since the appeal of youtube is that amateurs can post videos, I don't see these problems getting fixed anytime soon. These are more annoyances than fundamental problems of the system.

While youtube is the most commonly used video sharing website, there are others. Google and yahoo both have video sharing capabilities. While playing with google and yahoo video I realized that the videos on these sites are not limited to videos posted on the video sharing site itself. Since google and yahoo are internet search engines they retrieve videos from many video providers. This allows users to search many video sharing websites simultaneously, and is a feature that distinguishes google and yahoo from youtube. This feature is a great asset to the user, it is a good idea for users to search for a video through google or yahoo, since they are more likely to find what they need than by searching just one video sharing site.

Youtube and other video sharing sites have a great deal of information that can be used successfully in a classroom. The problem is trying to weed through the huge amounts of videos to find one that is relevant. This is what makes teacher tube so fantastic. Prior to this course I had not even heard of teacher tube. All of the videos posted on teacher tube are in some way relevant to teaching. This makes it a great place to start to look for videos for teaching. Not only does teacher tube offer videos, they also offer documents for teachers. Another feature that makes it a more desireable first stop for videos related to a curriculum is that teacher tube allows its users to upload longer videos than youtube, which places a cap on the size of the file and the time limit. After playing around on teacher tube I found that the videos were great for subjects such as science, math and common literature taught in the curriculum (such as To kill a mockingbird), but the site was lacking in Canadian content. I did a search for Louis Riel, who I think is a very important Canadian, and a Canadian figure commonly taught in schools, and it only came up with six hits. To compare I then did a search for Benjamin Franklin and there were over ten pages of videos. Overall, teacher tube was great, and would be a great asset to any classroom, but it may be difficult to find a relevant video on Canadian history.

There are other ways to implement videos, aside from viewing them in a classroom. Many students do not grasp the information in a lesson immediately, it may take a few times seeing a lesson before they understand the material taught. Teachers can video tape important lessons and post them so that students can revisit the lesson if there is material that they do not understand. Also major school functions can be video taped to help promote the school (Video blogging for teachers). While this is a fun activity there needs to be discretion about where the videos are posted. Also FOIP issues that relate to photosharing also apply to video sharing, so any teachers or librarians that want to use video sharing need to be aware of FOIP issues.

To encourage creativity, students can create their own videos and learn to edit them. A great place for them to post their videos is on a site called schooltube. Prior to researching video sharing I had not heard of it, but it is a really great resource. This site showcases videos created by students. Every video is moderated, follows local school guidelines and is approved by registered teachers so there are no innapropriate videos on the site. Schooltube is a safe way for students to create and share videos on the internet.

On the left side of this blog, under the heading Video Bar, you will find a library that I think has incorporated video sharing very well. Harper College library gives video instruction on how to use their library, which they post on youtube. My favourite of their videos is Tour the Library, which provides an entertaining introduction to their library services. Harper College library is using youtube to bring awareness to library services, and offer instruction on their use. This is a very good way to reach out to their library patrons since according to PEW/Internet and American life project 48% of people who use the internet have been to a video sharing site, and the number of people who visit video sharing sites has doubled in the past year. It is important for libraries to go to the people, instead of clinging to outdated technologies to reach out to patrons. According to statistics, video sharing makes a lot of sense for libraries to use.

Personally I enjoy using youtube regularly. I have an account with youtube and have a few channels that I subscribe to. The account was very easy to set up, and it makes following my favourite "youtube celebrities" much easier. Some people put a lot of time and effort into their videos, and they are very entertaining. I could spend hours on youtube, there is so much on the site to watch. While I greatly enjoy watching youtube, I have never felt the need to post videos. The lack of privacy settings is a huge deterrent. I do not feel comfortable with everyone being able to view the videos I post.

My user name on youtube is Yeehargh. My profile contains the channels that I subscribe to as well as videos I enjoy on a channel that I do not want to subscribe to. I find this feature of youtube very handy. It allows me to access my favourite videos as an entire channel, or just the video itself. This saves me from having to save an entire channel for one video.


The Possibilities of Youtube. Full Text Available By: Farrelly, Michael Garrett. Public Libraries, Sep/Oct2006, Vol. 45 Issue 5, p34-35, 2p;

Photosharing on the web.

There are many photosharing outlets on the web. Perhaps the best known is flickr. Will Richardson devotes an entire chapter of his book : Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms to flickr. Flickr hosts more than 3.6 billion photos on their site, and has recently allowed members to post short videos. The interesting thing about Flickr is that it allows your viewers to be interactive with you and your photos. They can add tags and notes to the photos (About Flickr).

Flickr is great because the volume of photos available means that there will always be a photo that fits your needs, however, there are restictions on how these photos can be used. That is why a site like creative commons is so useful. Creative commons allows users to dictate how their photos, writings, videos, music etc. will be licensed. This allows the users to control how their work will be used by others (About Creative Commons). Many flickr members have chosen to display their photos under a creative commons licensing agreement to remain in control of their photos and allow others to use them for creative purposes. Creative commons gives more freedom and flexibility to the users, while allowing the owners to maintain the licensing of their work. Because of this freedom, creative commons is a great asset to libraries. Users must still be aware of the licensing agreements, however, the images, videos, music etc. can be used legally within copyright rules.

I have used the creative commons website many times to find images to use in the library I worked in. The business library at the University of Alberta has a television monitor that displays images, statistics and useful information for users of the library. I was often asked to find images to display relating to certain holidays such as halloween or St. Patricks Day. The best place to go for images was creative commons since we could use these images without repercussions. While creative commons does not have the same volume of images that flickr does, I found that their selection of images was sufficient for what I needed it for in the library.

Academic libraries can use photosharing websites as a way of collecting photos for use, as well as posting photos for others to view, but public and school libraries could run into some trouble with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP) if they posted photos of minors without consent. FOIP's goal is to protect the personal information of individuals. Personal information is information about a identifiable individual. If a public or school library is going to be involved in photosharing it is important that they are aware of FOIP regulations before engaging in these activities.

Besides using photos just to photoshare, there are many other uses for photos in schools. A really good idea is for kids to find a picture, or take one of their own, then use it as a writing prompt (Mister Teacher). This site provides good suggestions for sites for children to visit to find photos. My favourite is kidsclick. The site provides lists of websites that would be useful for finding pictures of art, space, animals and history. All of the links are to professional and well-respected institutions, so children are accessing some of the best possible photos for the topic.

While professionally I have used creative commons very often, for photosharing my personal photos I use facebook or photobucket. I used photobucket before flickr was big, as a way to ensure that I did not lose my photos when I switched to my new computer. I rarely use photobucket anymore, instead I post almost all of my pictures onto facebook. There are many drawbacks to doing this, mainly once the photos are posted they become the property of facebook and facebook has the right to use these photos however they want. This is a major concern for me, but facebook is the easiest way for me to share pictures with my friends. Many of my friends are on facebook, so it is the quickest way for me to share my photos with them. Though the fact that facebook owns my photos once I post them really bothers me, their privacy settings are a major bonus. I like that I can filter out who can view my photos.

While right now facebook is the easiest way for me to maintain and share my photos, flickr seems like a very good way to maintain my photos. They have so many great features, such as allowing users to tag photos so that other users can find photos easier. I also really like that flickr allows its users to post photos under a licensing agreement with creative commons.

My first blog post for EDES 501!

My name is Ashley Eisen and this is my first blog post for EDES 501.

I have currently completed one year of my masters in Library and Information Studies, and have one more year until I am finished my degree. I chose to take this class because I feel it is important to have a good grasp on available technology. I am also completely unfamiliar with blogs and blogging, so this course seemed like a good way for me to familiarize myself with blogging in a structured setting, that also allows me to experience other web 2.0 technologies.

I was torn between using blogger or wordpress as my blog. In the end I chose blogger based on comparisons between the two that I found on a website called site reference. Though this website felt that wordpress was a better blog, the comparison showed me that blogger would be a good match for me because of my minimal knowledge of blogging websites, and based on what was required in this course. Blogger is much easier to set up and does not require that I download any installation files. Wordpress allows a higher level of customization, and publishes quicker than blogger, but I think that ease of use is more important to me than customization. Though wordpress does seem like a better blogging website, I do not feel that I have enough blogging knowledge to benefit from the added features of wordpress. Perhaps, after this class is done and I have a better understanding of how blogs work I can begin to use wordpress.