LIBR 246-13 Building the Social Library Online

Although I embrace learning new things and enjoy new experiences, I was definitely out of my comfort zone in the beginning of this class. At first I was very uncomfortable with using Drupal. The good old blackboard seemed so right, so comfy and so familiar. But now I see Drupal as different and even better way to engage with the instructor and other students especially since our focus is social networking. Now, having to go back to blackboard just seems wrong. One of the biggest benefits of Drupal was the RSS feeds.

Trying to sell social networking tools to some colleagues is like pulling teeth. Sometimes it may be painful but in the end they’ll be glad they did it. I’ve been playing with lots of different types of social networking tools for several years (especially in this class). Sometimes I’m not too impressed and can’t see how it will be useful down the road but I like to be familiar with it for that “lightbulb” moment in the middle of the night.

I took Libr285 last semester and we spent a lot of time on Second Life. At first I thought, “is that all there is?” because I was not particularly interested in meeting up with people in this virtual world but after spending lots of time there, I realized that there is something for everyone.

Second Life has definitely been in the news a lot over the past couple of years. Companies are marketing virtual representations of their brands in Second Life. Rock bands are having concerts in Second Life. Educational institutions (like SJSU!) are holding classes in Second Life. This week, Congress conducted a hearing on virtual worlds inside of Second Life.

I chose to ask “What is the Gross Domestic Product per capita of Bahrain?”

I already have accounts both Facebook and Myspace. I chose to do my exercise in Facebook because even though I already had an account, I had not done much with it. I used the browse network feature for the first time and can see how this could be very useful especially in a educational setting. I chose to add the IREAD application to my profile and found it very simple and straight-forward. I was surprised to find that there are other applications for facebook  like librarything that provide a similar service.  It seemed like there was a duplication of efforts there...

Today, Michael Stephens from Tame the Web posted about how Facebook and MySpace are banned at his local library. Here's a quote from the South Bend Tribune:

"You can no longer use MySpace, Facebook or other “social networking sites” at Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library.

I already have both a MySpace and Facebook account (you can add me if you want).  Originally, I set up the MySpace because I had a friend in a band that was using MySpace as a way to market and network his band.  I'm also a musician, and have found that MySpace is a great way to find other musicians in the area.  I set up the Facebook account because I was curious, and then realized that many of my colleagues were members.&nbs

I was curious to see what your thoughts were on this post from Alisia Wygant, a student in a course I taught last year:

This was a totally new adventure for me, but I created my Facebook account with ease. I liked the fact that I didn’t have to read lots of text to get my profile up, add applications, and search for friends. After browsing the apps I decided WorldCat, Books iRead, and Zoho Office were choices my library patrons would make use of.