Web 2.0 and Government

A couple of weeks ago, I gave a presentation to the California State Webmasters' User Group on how governments around the world are incorporating Web 2.0 tools into their official (and not so official) sites. It seems to have sparked quite an interest among the state's webmasters. Yes!

One thing I did learn from the presentation is that librarians are some of the most technologically savvy people around. (Don't ask how I learned that...) We keep it pretty quiet. Perhaps it is our desire to get people the information they need in the most efficient manner or to deliver the information to the customer in his or her desired manner. Whatever it is, it certainly prompts us to explore the ways in which technology can be used to do what we do best -- bring people and information together.

Back to government 2.0. It is great to see blogs, rss feeds, tag clouds, video, and podcasts showing up on government sites. I've seen a number of local and federal government agencies on Twitter. And some on Facebook. I wish the Facebook folks would set up a network for those of us who work the state in CA.

It intrigues me that government is also showing up in Second Life -- I had a wonderful time visiting NOAA's Island there. Interestingly, libraries of all sorts have really taken an active role in using virtual worlds to provide services.

Second Life course

Sadly my Second Life (SL) course came to an end. I still am not comfortable in SL and I find that I am as shy in SL as I am in RL (that is to say, real life). It is a fascinating place and I do want to spend more time there. Am thinking about taking the next set of classes.

Second Life Reference and Facebook

What a wild time. I spent an hour shadowing a reference librarian in Second Life. There were a lot people who showed up just to hang around. A few had questions, mostly about Second Life (SL). I will plan on going back once I figure out how to make my avatar walk like a normal person!

Facebook -- another intriguing place. The interesting thing is that I found my 20 something niece on Facebook. Did she have any other choice but to add me as a friend. Beyond finding out about my niece, I have a few contacts that are involved in web 2.0 stuff.

I will have to spend more time exploring both SL and Facebook. So much to learn!

Finished! Or maybe just started

I have finished my 23 Things and had a great time working through the list of items. For just about everything there seemed to be some library-type use although not necessarily for the State Library.

I have already started to incorporate some of the 23 Things into my work as well as my personal life. I don’t know if it will make me any more organized or allow me to work any more efficiently, but it certainly has gotten me more involved with my co-workers and others in and out of the library world. That is a good thing in libraries!

Out of all the 23 Things that we did, the one that I found the least useful was Technorati – I will most likely cancel my subscription to that. Everything else I found some use for even if it was not really work-related.

I think there are couple of challenges for my library –
*To continue to use the 23 Things and not treat it as a project that has ended so we can return to the status quo; and

*To explore and use other social networking tools such as Second Life, Ning, or Facebook.

For me, the 23 Things was just the start! Next is to create one convenient, central location so that I can easily access Bloglines, LibraryThing, or whatever Web 2.0 tool I want.

Online productivity tools

These are great -- or may be great if I can remember to use them. I am trying to think some reason why I need to share a document with someone and work on it together at the same time. It would be interesting to see how well that worked.

I must admit, I like that I wouldn't have to email a document to myself to work on it. I try to ignore work-related things that I email to myself at home. It will be an interesting experiment.

Blinking

I am reading an interesting book, Blink: the power of thinking without thinking. The book is about what happens during the first two seconds of looking at something. It makes me wonder what happens during the first two seconds someone looks at a web page. Could it be that if people like what they see, they will think that the page or site is more authoritative than it really is (the book refers to this as the "Warren Harding" effect (i.e., voting for a handsome but hapless president).

Joomla in Libraries

A friend of mine and I were discussing the use of Web 2.0 tools in state government. She mentioned an open source content management system that sounded wonderful -- Joomla. I visited the Joomla website, but wanted to see if any libraries were using Joomla. So I did a Google search and found Joomla in Libraries. On that site, I found a list of libraries using Joomla, including at least on State Library and a National Libraries. Time to spend time on the Joomla in Libraries page to find out more!

Web strategy and a book to buy

Interesting article on the need to have a web strategy when redesigning a web site.

http://newsweaver.ie/gerrymcgovern/e_article000871297.cfm

Letting Go of the Words; Writing Web Content that Works (Janice Reddish) -- Highly recommended by a number of usability gurus including Jakob Nielsen, Lou Rosenfeld, Steve Krug.

The House of Rep can be followed on Twitter

Wow! This is exciting for a gov docs librarian. The House of Representatives has a Twitter account: http://twitter.com/housefloor
I think this is really exciting!

Libraries in 2nd Life

I am attending a five (or is it six) week course on the role of libraries and librarians in 2nd Life , which is offered through the Univ of Illinois, Library and Information Science continuing ed program. Last night was our first class. I must admit sitting in 2nd life for two hours reading tiny little text messages was a bit exhausting, but overall it will be a worthwhile class.

The class takes place on Info Island, which is a library lovers dream world. The library is always open, great programs are offered, and usually you can find someone to help answer a reference question.

At present, there are over 600 (self-identified) librarians on 2nd Life from all over the world. That is pretty amazing to me. I am not convinced yet that it will last forever or that it is something that all libraries will want to be involved in, but it is certainly worth exploring. Will blog more about my experience there as I work my way through the classes.

Oh, if you are a resident on 2nd Life, my avatar's name is Sylvie Despres. Feel free to look me up! I can usually be found in the government documents section on Info Island.

Tagmash

Librarything has just started a new feature that allows you to search by combining unrelated tags. Take a look! Short version or Long version

Enjoy!

Library 2.0?

I am not fond of the phrase "Library 2.0." It suggests that libraries and librarians haven’t changed much in 2,000+ years. I suppose some librarians are still using library hand to write catalog cards, but probably not many. Okay, that may not be fair, but I would rather think of libraries as always moving forward and librarians as innovators who are willing to try new ways of providing services, communicating with customers, and collaborating with others in (and out) of the library world. The phrase “Library 2.0” does not evoke the image of the continual evolution of libraries throughout time.

Discussions about the current era in librarianship focuses on how new technology will change the way we do what we do. The discussion includes a lot disagreement about whether or not the new technology is a good thing. These discussions and disagreements are not new. Technology has provided us with a lot of new tools in the past-- telephones, microforms, computers (remember the old Hollerith cards?). I am sure that many of these were pretty controversial at the time. I can just imagine what was being said when someone suggested putting phones in the library. It seems to me, that we have always been on alert for ways in which technology can move libraries forward. We decide which tools we should use and how we should use them (hopefully, based on customer need and not just our perception of what customers' need).

Not all the new technology is something that will be used in the library, but it is still worth knowing about. Flickr may not be used as an everyday tool, but it could be incorporated into programs -- a library workshop on genealogy might include a discussion on the use of Flickr to share old family photographs, or as a space to post pictures from a photo contest for young adults.

All this discussion of library 2.0, reminds me of an old Gershwin Song "...the radio and the telephone and the movies that we know they're just passing fancies and in time may go." (Our Love is here to Stay) Your guess is as good as mine as to what will last and what won't -- who knows we may be instant messaging with our customers for years to come.

Rollyo vs Google Custom Search

Number 12 on the list of 23 things is to look at Rollyo (http://www.rollyo.com/). I remembered an email that I read last fall about Google's custom search engine (http://www.google.com/coop/cse/overview), which does pretty much the same thing as Rollyo. So, I decided to take a quick look at both of them. I much prefer the Google application over Rollyo.

The most striking and least appealing thing about Rollyo is the over abundance of red on the page. It hurts my eyes! True to its use of minimalist design, Google's custom search page is much cleaner and easier to look. I should mention that I developed a usability custom search engine on both of sites.

I also prefer Google because I already am using other Google applications (such as this blogging tool). I don't have to create another username or password. That is a big plus!

Beyond that it looks like both do pretty much the same thing. I will probably explore them more this weekend just for fun.

Online image generator

Had a bit of fun working with image generators online. The one that I liked the most was dumpr.com. Not only did it create a great sketch of my dog Zephyr, but it let me upload the sketch to my flickr account.

Here is the sketch of Zeph:

Not really sure how I would use the image generator for work at the State Library. Any ideas?

23 Things and Hip Librarians

Early this week, I forwarded the link to my blog to family and friends who weren't librarians. One of them asked what this 23 Things was all about. I promised him that I would post a link to info about the challenge: http://our23things.infopeople.org/

Another friend really liked the article from the NY Times, "Hipper Crowd of Shushers." He asked me to post the link to the article, too.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/fashion/08librarian.html

Now that I am back from a short vacation -- I am back to working through my 23 Things. I feel like I have fallen behind, but I am determined to catch up! While I was on vacation, I added a new feature to my blog -- a random listing of items that are in my Library Things library.

Moving through the 23 Things

I have a little catching up to do. I've moved on to thing number 10, but forgot to comment about my experience with Twitter. I've been using Twitter for several months. It is a nice break in the middle of the day to catch of glimpse of what others are doing. And at least one of the folks on who are on my list of friends recommends excellent articles and podcasts. Another person sends opening sentences from books with links to more information about the book. My list of books that I want to read has grown significantly!

I find Twitter useful as a way of networking (I really dislike that word!), but not high pressure networking. Several months ago, I found Twitter to be a useful way to meet people at a conference where I didn't know anyone.

How would it be used in a library setting? I am still thinking about how it can be used for outreach as well as how it might improve communication internally. I look forward to hearing from others about possible uses for Twitter in libraries.

More Flickr fun

Working through these 23 things has been a lot fun. I am stuck on Flickr -- only because I am having so much fun with it. Last night I started mapping my photos. And since I am a statistics nut, I looked at the statistics that showed how many times my photos were looked at.

Today, I move on to number 6 (looking at sites using web 2.0) and 7 (setting up my own Bloglines newsreader account).

Flickr

What fun! Spent a fair amount of time taking photos of things around the house, including Zephyr, to put up on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/zephyrs-spot/). I can see where Flickr might be a great tool to use in conjunction with programs in the public library.

Younger workers and Web 2.0

One of my co-workers found this intersting article on the use of Web 2.0 in the workplace:
"Younger Workers Demanding Web 2.0 Tech on the Job"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20070620/tc_cmp/199905440

Web 2.0

There are a lot of intriguing things about Web 2.0 -- Twitter, Second Life, YouTube.

Will they last?

Maybe, maybe not, but I see them as next steps in the development of the web as a method of communication. Without experimentation, how can there be innovation? Someone will see a way in which Twitter or Flickr can be modified to create a new service or better means of communicating.

To me, it is all very exciting and I look forward to the future.

Welcome to Zeph's Spot

Zephyr's Spot is named after an oversized American Eskimo dog. He really wants to be a librarian and has his own catalog on Librarything, http://www.librarything.com/catalog/zephyr. Interestingly enough his interests are quite similar to mine, in particular, usability of websites.