Twitter

Ok, so I hate to say it but I'm a Twitter cynic. I actually laughed while watching the video 'Twitter in Plain English' (and I can assure you, I was laughing at it not with it). Somehow, while I think my friends are interested in some parts of my life, I really don't think they care if I'm drinking coffee, going to bed or reading a new investment book. Those kind of posts are about as interesting as Facebook's Farmville. Last year my Library was considering the use of Twitter. I set up an account and got bored with it very quickly. I also questioned friends about it and they all said the same thing: 'forget Twitter, stick to Facebook'. The Wiki entry of microblogging also indicated that 10% of Twitter users account for 80% of posts. To me, this just says that Twitter has not yet taken off.

Now I've got that out of the way I'll admit that I can see the real value of Twitter for Libraries. It is a great way to get events and services across to the community. Mosman Library (my new heroes) have shown this with their Twitter account. They have over 600 followers and I found their Tweets to be interesting and easy to read. The thing that distinguished them from other tweets (such as some of ALIAs - sorry ALIA) was that they all contained links to further information. This is very important. As Tweets can only be 140 characters or less it is important to get the main point across and then provide followers with links if they'd like to explore further. I also found Mosman's Tweets easy to read, whereas some other tweets read like complete gibberish. I think before you tweet, its important to think it through first and condense what you want to say into a succinct but clear point. Entering competitions where you have to answer a question in 25 words or less would be great practice for future Twitterers.

I think Twitter has great potential but it needs to increase in popularity in Australia.

Nings

These have become my new favourite 2.0 (or 2.1 - whichever you'd prefer) tools. Actually, that's a lie - I still think screencasting is a great tool for Libraries, but Nings are second best. They are an excellent outreach tool providing users with their forums, blogs, groups etc.

I was particularly impressed with Mosman Libraries use of the Ning (http://www.mosmanreaders.net/). It has a blog, forums, book reviews and a link to the Mosman Library website, catalogue and the popular database Novelist. They also promote events and book groups. I'd like to see my Library develop something like this and I'd be curious to see how many members we'd get. Mosman currently has 109. While I probably wouldn't set up anything more personal I'm very impressed with the Ning's capabilities as a business/organisation promotional tool.

Slideshows, screencasting and digital storytelling

I found this to be a particularly useful 2.1 topic. We can use these technologies for so many things.

Slideshows are so good for sharing presentations with a wider audience. You could use them to help enhance your blog or webpage or just share knowledge with a Librarian across the globe or your own Patrons from the Library home page. I have personally used Google Docs to do a group uni assignment with people from Perth and Sydney. It was good that we could all log in and edit each others work. I even found I was on there one day editing work at the same time as another person so we could discuss changes in real time. This is great for collaboration between Librarians. The one thing that concerned me was the lack of sound on many of the presentations I viewed. This could render them confusing and ineffective.

I found screencasting to be the most useful tool. I remember viewing a screencast on how to use the Library catalogue and it was so helpful. With the number of people that struggle to use the catalogue in our public Library it would be great if we could embed screencasting tutorials into our webpage. The combination of instructions accompanied by visuals is a fantastic way of teaching. I'm hoping to experiment with this further.

I didn't get to look at digital storytelling very much due to computer problems but it seems like a good way to get Patrons involved in the Library service. It could act as a new format for children's storytime or we could encourage youth or the public to create and upload their own stories. There are an infinite number of options.

I really hope to look into these technologies in the future and try to create my own.

The Blogger Toolkit

I have a confession to make . . . I haven't blogged on this site for a very long time. I guess I got busy. I have however, been diligently blogging on the Sutherland Shire Libraries staff news blog. For the record I work there - I don't just go around randomly breaking into people's blogs. I am in a reference training position and part of my job is to publish a newsletter about all the different services, web sites, books in reference etc. When I started this position (inspired by the web 2.0 training) I started to blog the articles rather than produce a print copy. My idea behind this was to allow other staff to comment and share knowledge on blog posts. Unfortunately this has been difficult to encourage and the response hasn't been great. However, I'm stubborn and determined to keep trying to make it catch on.

I also used Facebook notes recently to keep a travel diary when I was overseas. This got a surprisingly good response with many people calling for the next installment. Facebook notes, by the way, is a little similar to blogging in that it can be used like an online log. You can write just about anything on there.

I'm a little ashamed that I do not always comment on other's blog posts, however I try and make an effort to comment on our staff blog as often as I can. I think blogging is a fantastic knowledge sharing tool and we can learn so much from other Library and Information workers worldwide if we utilise it properly.

For this first exercise, I have given my blog layout a total makeover. I've changed templates, colours, fonts and added a photo as well as more profile information. I've also added the search gadget because I thought it would be a good idea for the future (when I've blogged so much that I need to search for topics). I'll be interested to see other people's thoughts.