What an odd word... "Folksonomies". It means "an unstructured categorization scheme". Seen in light of web 2.0 and tags, it becomes a valuable way to make notable websites easier to find when needed again in the future.
After watching the Commoncraft video, it became clear that bookmarking sites like http://delicious.com/ can avoid the hassle of different "Favourites" lists saved across several different computers, by all being accessible from one place on the net, from any computer. This would save a great deal of trouble and avoid such possible problems as individual computer failure causing the loss of precious bookmarks.
Therefore, I saw an immediate benefit for my personal bookmarks and joined Del.icio.us! Here is the link to my page: http://delicious.com/Cyberspace_Librarian.
This kind of bookmarking of sites would be extremely useful for librarians when answering reference enquiries. From my own perspective as a Reference Librarian in a public library, I investigated this example. Take a client enquiry about a particular topic like the "Australian Gold Rush" for a primary school student assignment. The resulting search of Del.icio.us got 36 hits and most were government sites, considered reliable for assessment citation. A comparison search on Google gave 116000 hits of varying relevance. I think the real benefit here for librarians is that the Del.icio.us sites are recommended by others who are non-biased, unlike Google who are profit driven.
Libraries using bookmarking sites would benefit not only the library staff and patrons, but the wider online community with the sharing of the sites kept there.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Adventure in RSS Feeds
Well I have just set up an RSS Feed for the ABC Top Stories on my blog. Enjoy!
Test Drive #5 - RSS Feeds
Keeping a track of all the websites of interest through RSS Feeds is wonderful. As a librarian, keeping up to date with local, state, national and world news is essential to be able to relate to clients' needs for information. In a public library especially, news that is public knowledge will be the topic of conversation with clients every day. Therefore it is important in providing the best service possible, to be clear about the facts of the issue and remain non-judgemental.
After watching the always comical Commoncraft Video about RSS Feeds, I went on to add several sites to my Google Reader including: OPAL Training, John Oxley Library, ABS Statistically speaking and the ABC News. I have also been subscribing to other fellow SLQ Licence to Test Drive bloggers from the start and enjoy keeping up with their adventures in cyberspace too! I quite enjoyed the Libraries Interact blog for Australian Library Blogs. http://librariesinteract.info/australian-library-blogs/ This includes blogs of individuals and libraries to cover most topics of interest and they are relevant to Australians.
Libraries would find adding an RSS Feed to their websites and blogs advantageous as the more computer/internet savvy clients could access updates to the sites easily. However, unless a client is capable of accessing the internet, RSS Feeds would be of little use.
After watching the always comical Commoncraft Video about RSS Feeds, I went on to add several sites to my Google Reader including: OPAL Training, John Oxley Library, ABS Statistically speaking and the ABC News. I have also been subscribing to other fellow SLQ Licence to Test Drive bloggers from the start and enjoy keeping up with their adventures in cyberspace too! I quite enjoyed the Libraries Interact blog for Australian Library Blogs. http://librariesinteract.info/australian-library-blogs/ This includes blogs of individuals and libraries to cover most topics of interest and they are relevant to Australians.
Libraries would find adding an RSS Feed to their websites and blogs advantageous as the more computer/internet savvy clients could access updates to the sites easily. However, unless a client is capable of accessing the internet, RSS Feeds would be of little use.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Test Drive #4 - Social Networking
Social Networking Services sound great as a means to connect with friends and family no matter where they are.
However, privacy issues come to mind as a potential problem. An article in the Tech Herald highlights some proposed changes to Facebook allowing the use of users' names, likeness' and content for any purpose: http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200908/2965/Facebook-TOS-raises-some-privacy-issues. However, due to public outcry, Facebook did a backflip and vowed to change it's terms. Here is the follow up article outlining Facebook's response: http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200908/2987/Privacy-complaints-force-Facebook-to-backtrack-on-service-changes. Facebook is being encouraged to consider allowing users to be able to delete all information about themselves from the site, including back-ups, so their personal information is not always there for others to use as they wish. This is a real concern as once information is posted to the internet it is generally there forever and personal information may be used by others without permission of the owner.
It is interesting to note in the article about Facebook backtracking on service changes, that Facebook "faces" strong direct competition from Twitter, another social networking site. What is fascinating and unique about Twitter, is it uses SMS linked with blog technology, to enable users to tell the world, "What they are doing right now". At first this seemed a bit vague to me as I could see no immediate need to know what anyone else is doing right now! However, after reading a very interesting article in the latest Virgin Blue Magazine, Voyeur (May 2009 issue) about a Twitter experiment, it made more sense to me. Twitter is not so much about sharing your daily activity of brushing your teeth for example, but more about promoting your interests/hobbies/business and becoming engaged in other people's activites.
For Libraries, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter would have a lot to offer in terms of marketing, especially to the computer/internet savvy clients. As a way of promoting the library's current activities and services they would be invaluable and cost effective, due to needing purely staff time. Once again, the problem of keeping the content current and interesting, could be the downfall of social networking for libraries.
As a means of networking for library staff, social networking sites would be of value. To those staff which are isolated from the major cities, keeping up to date with the activities of other libraries would be of great benefit.
However, privacy issues come to mind as a potential problem. An article in the Tech Herald highlights some proposed changes to Facebook allowing the use of users' names, likeness' and content for any purpose: http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200908/2965/Facebook-TOS-raises-some-privacy-issues. However, due to public outcry, Facebook did a backflip and vowed to change it's terms. Here is the follow up article outlining Facebook's response: http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200908/2987/Privacy-complaints-force-Facebook-to-backtrack-on-service-changes. Facebook is being encouraged to consider allowing users to be able to delete all information about themselves from the site, including back-ups, so their personal information is not always there for others to use as they wish. This is a real concern as once information is posted to the internet it is generally there forever and personal information may be used by others without permission of the owner.
It is interesting to note in the article about Facebook backtracking on service changes, that Facebook "faces" strong direct competition from Twitter, another social networking site. What is fascinating and unique about Twitter, is it uses SMS linked with blog technology, to enable users to tell the world, "What they are doing right now". At first this seemed a bit vague to me as I could see no immediate need to know what anyone else is doing right now! However, after reading a very interesting article in the latest Virgin Blue Magazine, Voyeur (May 2009 issue) about a Twitter experiment, it made more sense to me. Twitter is not so much about sharing your daily activity of brushing your teeth for example, but more about promoting your interests/hobbies/business and becoming engaged in other people's activites.
For Libraries, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter would have a lot to offer in terms of marketing, especially to the computer/internet savvy clients. As a way of promoting the library's current activities and services they would be invaluable and cost effective, due to needing purely staff time. Once again, the problem of keeping the content current and interesting, could be the downfall of social networking for libraries.
As a means of networking for library staff, social networking sites would be of value. To those staff which are isolated from the major cities, keeping up to date with the activities of other libraries would be of great benefit.
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