Week 3: Library 2.0 Further Reflections: Is Library 2.0 classist?

This isn’t well thought out. Just some random jumble of thought I have.

It seems to me that Library 2.0 is predicated on technological access, and that access is not well distributed across the economic spectrum. I’m not suggesting that Library 2.0 in all of its attendant glory isn’t beneficial or wonderful or exciting, I’m saying what we all know to be true, that many are excluded from participating not by choice but by economic conditions (which are far more complex than simply individual choice), or if not entirely excluded, have minimal access to these new features of the library experience.

 Not all public libraries have enough computers to meet demand, unless significant limitations are placed on access (time limits and library hours of operation, for example). Thus, those without the funds to afford a home computer, or reasonably high-speed Internet access (many Web 2.0 technologies work on dial-up, just poorly), are limited as to when/how often they can use these tools and participate in this primarily on-line experience. Those with such amenities are granted the possibility of greater access and participation from the comfort of their own homes, often 24 hours a day. Those who have, will have more. Those who don’t fall even farther behind.

This is nothing new – it’s the digital divide. But, I can’t help but feel like it has lost its allure as a topic of discussion. Maybe it’s what I’m reading lately, but I don’t see it mentioned as much. Is it something we’re just willing to accept as inevitable? As we chase the completion of these 23 things, in the excitement, and necessity, of staying on top of the latest and greatest, I hope we haven’t forgotten those who need us most.

 

Week 3: Library 2.0

I don’t see what the fuss is about.

Whether or not Library 2.0 represents a dramatic new direction in library service, or is simply an outgrowth of long held principles by customer-focused librarians, is meaningless.  What we’re talking about is giving users greater ability to participate (even if it has always been the intent, it hasn’t always bee, nor is it universally, the practice) in the creation, organization and retrieval of content in the library, made possible by developments in technology in ways that could not have been imagined previously.

As I see it, the only questions that matter are, is it working for us and for our users, and, what more can we do?

 

Week 3: Technorati / Blog Directories

When is authority not authority? When it’s on Technorati.

It seems to me that there’s something misleading about Technorati’s authority rating, at least in the name. Authority, to me, suggests that an individual has some level of expertise, some demonstrable proof of knowledge of a given topic. Sometimes, but not always, it includes recognition by others. But this isn’t what authority means on Technorati.

From their help document:

The best way to increase your Technorati Authority is to write things that are interesting to other bloggers so they’ll link to you.

Interesting is not authority, interesting is, well, interesting. It is as if they have conused interesting writing with authoritative writing. Or worse, potentially it is popularity confused with authority.

I realize the term authority is probably being used as part of some marketing scheme somewhere by Technorati, but from an information retrieval point of view in an educational setting (which a library is, at least in part) it sets up exactly the kind of problem I have heard librarians and educators complaining about – people do not know how to identify an authoritative source.

If I were using Technorati in a reference setting, I would offer the searcher the same caveats I would offer about Google, Wiki, and other similar sources. And then show them the subscription databases for comparison.

Now, there are some good points to Techorati:

• A corporate library might search to see what people are saying about the company or a product to prepare information for other managers
• For school assignments, finding interesting (there’s that word again) posts about current events is easy
  • In a library setting, this offers the opportunity to teach good information literacy skills
• For bloggers, it’s a quick and easy way to see what others are talking about on your niche topic – either for post ideas or to contribute comments to other blogs

I’ll probably use Technorati for both the first and last points (I don’t work in a library and have little opportunity to teach information literacy otherwise). What I won’t use it for is finding authoritative writing on a particular topic, without doing further assessment of the author’s qualifications. Like Wiki articles, it’s more of a jumping off point than a destination.

 

Week 3: Social Bookmarking

I don’t remember when i established my del.icio.us account, but after the initial “rush” of using it, i pretty much ignored it.  For week 3’s assignment, I revisited my account and what i found was, i had tagged a lot of stuff i no longer use, and in fact, probably never had use for beyond the initial reading. I think there’s definitely a use in a professional setting, but it requires more work than simply clicking around and adding links that look good.

Pros of del.icio.us:

• your bookmarks are available anywhere you have an Internet connection (and del.icio.us isn’t a blocked site)
• you can see how others have tagged a bookmark
• you can see other sites/pages assigned the same tag
• you can see sites others have felt were worthy of bookmarking
• RSS feed of your bookmarks can be displayed on your blog or webpage

The most obvious cons of del.icio.us are indicative of typical problems in information classification and retrieval.

Cons of del.icio.us:

• Lack of controlled vocabulary -  Since librarians tend to have access to subject classifications like Sears and LCSH, i don’t think this is a huge  problem but it’s a con none-the-less.
• Finding related sites dependent on others using same tag - Non-librarians aren’t necessarily going to choose from a controlled vocabulary, thus the term they use may not match the term you use. Homographs and inconsistent choice of tags – as in choosing between “bikes” or “bicycles” – limit the benefit of this feature
• Too easy to add links “just because” resulting in increased recall at the expense of precision.

 

Introduction

I rarely pay attention to emails from either the ALA or SLA, but the “Learn and Win Using SLA’s 23 Things Program” subject line in my inbox caught my attention. One of my professional goals for the current fiscal year is to learn more about social networking applications, so this ties in rather nicely. If you’re interested in what this 23 Things thing is all about you can check out their site.

From what I’ve gathered looking at the other SLA 23 Things blogs out there and the lack of comments on them, this is a rather lonely exercise for something that’s supposed to be social in nature. We’ll see what I can do about that.

 

Week 2: Blogging : Choosing a blog platform

I’ve been blogging on LiveJournal since 8/2001, although I didn’t call it blogging then, and i don’t really call it blogging now either. There’s just something about LJ that makes me not take it seriously as a blogging platform – maybe it’s because for a long time, when you’d hit the “view random journal” button, you’d end up the journal of some 12 year old girl talking about math class or her latest crush in pink font on a white background.

I’m also on Twitter. I love the micro-blog concept, although mostly i look at what i post and think “who cares about this?” I’m not even sure I do half the time. That, I think, is a bigger concern of mine, and maybe I’ll make a post about that.

Thankfully, since Twitter can update my Facebook status, it does get some response and thus, in some small way, lives up to it’s social promise. Much more than I get updating Twitter alone.

For this project, especially after looking ahead to some of the exercises, Twitter would be problematic, I think, as a primary platform. I can imagine it playing a useful support role however.

Maybe some enterprising individual will want to do their entire SLA 23 Things on Twitter?

Anyway, so, why WordPress? Because I have to use WordPress at work to update a blog (I post things other people have written, with minor edits here and there). My hope is that I’ll learn a lot more about it during the 23 Things project, since I’m restricted in a lot of ways on the work blog, e.g. I can’t go on a widget-adding bender.

My impression, after spending 15 minutes choosing a theme from tons of colorful options, was that the dashboard is rather sterile – like it’s trying too hard to be professional looking and not offend anyone’s tender sensibilities. Maybe I’m reading too much into it though. Or maybe it’s that pale, washed out blue.

It also took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to edit the About page. When I found it – Manage, Pages – it was a “Duh!” moment to be sure.

Anyone using WordPress want to tell me what their favorite feature is? Is there a way to edit the dashboard’s appearance? (Keep in mind I’m using the free version)