LIBR 246-12: Web 2.0 and Social Networking Tools (Fall 2008)

1. How has your view of social software changed since starting the course?

Hey everyone,

I know that due to some technical difficulties that you didn't really get to get a good look at our blog so I'm posting the URL here.  We worked hard on it and I'm proud of it.  It was interesting to create something for an actual library with a need for a blog.

http://csudharchives.blogspot.com/

I really enjoyed seeing what the other groups came up with, wow!!

Amber

This: http://www.webguild.org/2008/09/why-many-social-software-projects-fail.php is an interesting article on why many social software projects fail.  The authors claim, "Many social software projects fail because IT managers wrongly believe that successful communities form spontaneously after social software tools are installed."  This is such a great point!  It isn't enough to implement the software and expect people to flock to it.  New software must be marketed properly if the public is to not only

I imagine that a great barrier to implementing social software is the fear of the unknown.  In a previous job, I convinced my employer to start a website to generate more clients.  The website planning meetings took absolutely forever because my boss was so frightened of the technology, and worried that her information would somehow be compromised just because we were throwing up a simple website to attract clients.  It took probably six months to get up a "quick and dirty" website.  We had plans to strengthen and add to the website, but as I write this (two years later), the original versi

Even though I had a difficult and frustrating time finding a place to upload my screencast, I really enjoyed creating it.  I've already thought of at least five ways that I can use screencasting (that is if I figure out an easier way to upload!) professionally.  A lot of the work that I do is training others on using certain software and screencasting will be the perfect tool to enhance that training.  It is much easier to actually show someone how to do something then it is to tell them how to do it.  I typically type out instructions for various things in email, or creat

I had a very difficult time getting my screencast to upload anywhere.  I used Camstudio to make the actual screencast, but wasn't able to upload to blip.tv, or screencast.com.  I finally managed to upload it to YouTube.  If you click on the video it will take you to YouTube.  You can then click on "view in high quality" under the video, it's a little easier to see this way.

I saw this article and video this morning on Tame the Web.  Strangely, I found it just after posting a comment on Dan's blog about how Google is taking over the world..or at least the internet.  This is a great example of a screencast for this week's assignment, and also a good example of a piece of social software that can be added to websites:

I found this informative wiki about teens and podcasting.  In my post about libraries making podcasts more engaging I meant to include a part about using patrons (teens) to create podcasts.  No, this isn't a plug for free labor (well, maybe!), but teaching teens to create their own podcasts on things that teens would be interested in is a fabulous idea.  My local library has a ton of highschool students, and they can get pretty rowdy and disruptive.  I'm glad that they are able to hang out in the library, but I think if the library implemented some sort of class on podcasting that some of t

Libraries can make podcasting more engaging, and thus gain a wider and more varied body of listeners, or, perhaps a core group of listeners with similar interests, depending on the focus of the podcast, by first of all considering who their audience is.  Are their primary listeners patrons who want more information about services that the library provides?  Are they readers who want critiques of new novels?  Are the listeners primarily people with young children that would enjoy storytime podcasts to make car rides more enjoyable?  One way that a library could glean this information from th