Social networking: Be an active, responsible user. August 21, 2009
Posted by Erin in Uncategorized.Tags: communication, Facebook, networking, outreach, social networking, virtual, Web 2.0
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Image by m-c and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic License.
I have been thinking about social networking websites lately. I think it’s because things are becoming increasingly integrated/cross-platformy. I wouldn’t say that this is a “manifesto” per say, but I’d like to talk a little bit about my philosophy on said sites.
I try my best to be an active yet responsible user. Let’s break that down into two parts, shall we?
Active.
I think it’s pretty important for me to have a profile on some of these sites. The age demographic I encounter most at work is the “millennial” generation, amongst faculty members, staff and adult learners. Even if the students never know I have a profile on Facebook or another site, I feel like it brings me closer to seeing their way of life. Which in turn makes me a better librarian because I can gauge their wants and needs more effectively. I can catch a glimpse of what issues are riling up the campus (based on student-created groups, pages and posts) and use this information in a number of ways. As the outreach librarian, I coordinate some of the library events and exhibits – if a group of students create a Facebook page protesting/welcoming a particular guest lecturer, I can design something based on that interest. Heck, maybe we even have some of the visitor’s books to display, or could invite him/her to host a post-event debate in the library. As a subject liaison, I teach some library instruction sessions – if I notice lots of students tweeting or commenting about a certain news story, I can pull that into my search strategy to try and keep their attention. It gives me a way to create connections between the library and student interests.
In addition to working with millennials, I am a millennial. I have already had three cell phone numbers in my lifetime and more ridiculous screen names than I care to share (Starbeam3? What was I thinking…). I would be on some of these sites regardless of my career because technology is something that is tightly integrated with the way I live my life. I use social networking to keep in touch with friends from high school, college and grad school as well as professional contacts, co-workers, and people I respect. I find support and knowledge in these connections each time I log in.
Responsible.
When doing anything on the Internet, we should try to be responsible. That can range from locking down certain profiles to protect your (and others’) privacy to limiting the frequency of your updates. I have recently found myself un-following Twitter accounts that were posting too many messages because I was missing posts from everyone else. It’s nothing personal and it’s not because the tweets were uninteresting or bad. I simply look forward to seeing a variety of information when I log in to Twitter – posts from my friends, recording artists, organizations and professional contacts all jumbled into one stream of consciousness. I guess this might stem from one of the traits of my generation – many of us enjoy multitasking and jumping from one thought to a completely unrelated topic. It’s exactly this reason that I don’t have separate Facebook or Twitter accounts (one for work and one for personal). It is an idea that seems foreign to me because my online identity is so closely tied to the one I display walking around every day.
Another aspect of responsibility that I am referring to here is the strength to know when enough is enough. A few years ago I deleted my Facebook account for approximately 6 months. I needed a rest because things were getting too intense with a relationship breakup and transitioning from college to something more closely related to real life. And there are still days when I go into work and have to say “Today I will not get on Twitter”. You could engage in endless conversation and having the power to control yourself is very important. If you say something in haste, it might stick around on the Interwebs forever to haunt you.
I try not to post tons of updates so that I don’t tip the scales of my readers. When I do, I send both personal and professional updates because I am both of those things online and in real life. I advocate for being an active, responsible user of social networks. How about you?
NYLA Observations. October 28, 2007
Posted by Erin in Uncategorized.Tags: conference, NYLA, open source, Web 2.0
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Before I begin this post I would like to express my excitement and anticipation for the Bright Eyes concert on November 15th. Okay, everything from here on will (for the most part) be library-related.
This September I attended the 2007 New York Library Association (NYLA) Annual Conference. It was the largest conference I’ve been to at this point and proved to be an interesting experience. I am including some of my general observations here and below is a list of the sessions I attended, with more information and my thoughts on each of them under the “Read the rest of this entry” cut. Just be aware that this entry is fairly lengthy…
My favorite part of the conference was volunteering at the Syracuse University iSchool booth. I got to meet some students in my program which is always fun for me since I am primarily a distance student. I also got to meet a lot of Syracuse alumni and hear about their experiences since graduating from the program. It made me feel a little better about my future hearing about all the interesting things they have gone on to do with their library degrees. Another interesting part was talking to library students from the University of Buffalo. More than once I was called on to defend my choice to attend SU over UB when they are both equidistant from my hometown. It was interesting, to say the least!
Now, maybe I just missed these things, and if so, I apologize. But I have a few suggestions for next year’s conference. First, there should be some sort of a coat room. I saw some lockers but you had to pay for them, and plus, who wants to dram their jacket into a 1 x 1 square? I saw a lot of people carrying their jackets around on their arms, and when you’re trying to carry your bag with all the free stuff the vendors give you, your lunch, and your purse, it gets to be tricky. I also saw a lot of abandoned coats that people had forgotten on the backs of their chairs!
Another suggestion would be to have more collaborative spaces for attendees to just hang out. All of the times I visited the Internet Cafe ti was packed, and I saw lots of people standing around in groups and pulling chairs together to talk to each other. Also, I think the trade show could do with the addition of some “fun” booths. I’m not sure if you have to pay to have a booth or what, but imagine booths with free neck/foot massages, makeovers, or health-related goodies. Would could argue with that? I’m trying to think of things that would appeal to the majority of conference attendees and exude a little bit of spirit amongst vendors clamoring for your business…
“What Are They Thinking?” (University of Rochester ethnographic study)
“Sure Fire Hire: Getting that Job!”
“The Library Is Now…OPEN!” (Open source software in libraries)
“Creative Communication: Using Web 2.0 as a Management Tool”
“Geographic Information Systems for Libraries”
