Please watch the attached to use this 'ap' on Facebook:
2008-11-24_1918
Monday, November 24, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Ning
OK, this I like, although I want to play around with the skin a bit.
A Ning is easy to set up, offers many features - such as an events calendar, photos, and videos - that would be great in a work environment, and has an administrative passcode so that only selected people can control the content. If you worked in a place that could spend a great deal of money on a website, then a Ning might seem redundant. But if you weren't able to spend a large section of your budget on a site, or wanted an internal system independent of a public site, then a Ning would be a great option. Since you can restrict access to an internal group, there might be great functionality for a department, unit, or working group.
Say for example your working group had a project on a timeline. You could track progress and meetings on the events calendar, set up blog posts of meeting minutes and results, upload pictures of the project if applicable, upload screencasts and video demonstrations, etc. You'd also have a living document of the process if anyone wanted to check your progress.
In a PL setting, you often have adult users attempting to conduct business from the library. A Ning would be a great tool to offer them as well, because it would give them another kind of internet 'presence' as well as a way to organize and network.
Aside from the graphics, I don't really see a downside. Again, impressed with the easy set-up and the 'drag-and-drop' functions. I need to check how easy it is to edit what you've got once you've committed - but if that checks out, I'm all for it!
A Ning is easy to set up, offers many features - such as an events calendar, photos, and videos - that would be great in a work environment, and has an administrative passcode so that only selected people can control the content. If you worked in a place that could spend a great deal of money on a website, then a Ning might seem redundant. But if you weren't able to spend a large section of your budget on a site, or wanted an internal system independent of a public site, then a Ning would be a great option. Since you can restrict access to an internal group, there might be great functionality for a department, unit, or working group.
Say for example your working group had a project on a timeline. You could track progress and meetings on the events calendar, set up blog posts of meeting minutes and results, upload pictures of the project if applicable, upload screencasts and video demonstrations, etc. You'd also have a living document of the process if anyone wanted to check your progress.
In a PL setting, you often have adult users attempting to conduct business from the library. A Ning would be a great tool to offer them as well, because it would give them another kind of internet 'presence' as well as a way to organize and network.
Aside from the graphics, I don't really see a downside. Again, impressed with the easy set-up and the 'drag-and-drop' functions. I need to check how easy it is to edit what you've got once you've committed - but if that checks out, I'm all for it!
danah boyd...
Maybe I should have read danah boyd's second article before diving into the 'Facebook is trending adult' statement. I can only base what I say on my impression of the site; the observation in an article in the NY Times Style section (usually about 1-2 years behind actual social trends); and the attitude of Rutgers students writing in the Daily Targum. That last audience, at least in the arts pages, dismisses Facebook and promotes MySpace. However, given the band-focus of MySpace boyd notes in the first article, and perhaps the fringe element she discusses in the second, there could be an explanation for that. And perhaps it's just cool for college kids to call Facebook 'lame'... I also wonder what boyd would make of the presence of Barack Obama on MySpace. Did this election (in which some teens were able to vote) have some impact on the allure of MySpace? For the record, I did not hear anything about Obama on Facebook.
So what do librarians take from all this? Allow teens access to both sites. Don't, as the armed services apparently did, try to draw some "good" vs. "bad" or "class" distinction from a social networking site. I don't think libraries are in the business of censorship in the first place, but librarians ought to be 'site-neutral' when discussing either SNS. It was kind of amazing, actually, to see this kind of 'good-site-vs.-bad-site' issue, anyway: sites are sites, and subject to the faults and virtues of their users and administrators. If you were to be a library that banned access to both sites, or refused to allow teens to access SNS, you'd hardly be serving your young adult population. You would actually be sending a clear message that the library wasn't for the likes of them - 'get off my lawn!', so to speak. So if you're concerned about predators, etc., on SNS, maybe it's better to have that message incorporated in a workshop about how to 'trick out' your page than to ban access outright.
Also, be prepared for 'NextGen' SNS, as well as the aging population of current SNS users. We are all different, wanting different things from different sites, and our ability to consume and digest the novel is only growing. We need to think beyond the current SNS - part of the point of the first article, actually - and adapt to what happens next. While it was cool to see some of what we've used in class brought on board in Facebook - video, microblogging, chat - that is only going to expand. So, we need to keep reading, keep learning, keep moving slightly ahead of the users - or we'll still be stuck on the 2009 version of Friendster in a decade.
So what do librarians take from all this? Allow teens access to both sites. Don't, as the armed services apparently did, try to draw some "good" vs. "bad" or "class" distinction from a social networking site. I don't think libraries are in the business of censorship in the first place, but librarians ought to be 'site-neutral' when discussing either SNS. It was kind of amazing, actually, to see this kind of 'good-site-vs.-bad-site' issue, anyway: sites are sites, and subject to the faults and virtues of their users and administrators. If you were to be a library that banned access to both sites, or refused to allow teens to access SNS, you'd hardly be serving your young adult population. You would actually be sending a clear message that the library wasn't for the likes of them - 'get off my lawn!', so to speak. So if you're concerned about predators, etc., on SNS, maybe it's better to have that message incorporated in a workshop about how to 'trick out' your page than to ban access outright.
Also, be prepared for 'NextGen' SNS, as well as the aging population of current SNS users. We are all different, wanting different things from different sites, and our ability to consume and digest the novel is only growing. We need to think beyond the current SNS - part of the point of the first article, actually - and adapt to what happens next. While it was cool to see some of what we've used in class brought on board in Facebook - video, microblogging, chat - that is only going to expand. So, we need to keep reading, keep learning, keep moving slightly ahead of the users - or we'll still be stuck on the 2009 version of Friendster in a decade.
The 'Sticky' Wicket
I'll preface this by saying that, as delighted as I was that we would be using and working with the much-talked-about MySpace and Facebook, I did take to mind the advice of the great Chuck D. and Public Enemy. Simply put, "Don't Believe The Hype." What would attract me to either of these places, and why would I want to spend my time there? I work full time at a beyond demanding job, part time at a great environment, and have carried a virtually uninterrupted class load since fall '07 - so time is tight. And wouldn't I rather spend that time with live humans in actual social settings? Yes, I would.
Given that, I was stunned by how fast I got into Facebook, accepting a college buddy's 'friend' request, getting and giving flair, engaging in 'superpoking', even uploading a set of travel pictures. Sadly, given what I'd heard about MySpace, that's been a harder sell and not sticky to me at all - yet. I'll definitely work on that, since most of my future clientele will be MySpacers and not Facebookers. Why do I say that? Mainly, because Facebook is living up to its reputation as a more 'adult' or GenX/Boomer place, taking on some of the 'class reunion' aspects of priveleged subscriber sites like Classmates, and some of the professional networking aspects of sites like LinkedIn.
Why are these sites 'sticky', and why would you spend hours of time there? Because it's all about you: you creating your identity and your world in your place for others to get to know who you are. You change and your life changes - and you can alter your page and your space to reflect that change. Your friends are an important part of your life, and if you can't see them, then you can visit their page and 'be in touch' with them. (Likewise, adult users might say that their professional contacts are important, and you can let them know what you're doing in that capacity and see if there are any possible cross-pollination prospects.) You can find friends you 'lost', or lost track of, if they have a page. You can also expand your social groups, if you choose, by 'friending' bands, politicians - hey, if I can 'friend' Michael Moore, Neil Young, and Henry Rollins on MySpace & Facebook, then why the hell wouldn't I?! (I think I can only Twitter Hillary Clinton...)
Again, I need to spend more time on MySpace - but I can already see that using Facebook would be like offering me unlimited access to Vosges Caramel Toffee. Uh, oh.
Given that, I was stunned by how fast I got into Facebook, accepting a college buddy's 'friend' request, getting and giving flair, engaging in 'superpoking', even uploading a set of travel pictures. Sadly, given what I'd heard about MySpace, that's been a harder sell and not sticky to me at all - yet. I'll definitely work on that, since most of my future clientele will be MySpacers and not Facebookers. Why do I say that? Mainly, because Facebook is living up to its reputation as a more 'adult' or GenX/Boomer place, taking on some of the 'class reunion' aspects of priveleged subscriber sites like Classmates, and some of the professional networking aspects of sites like LinkedIn.
Why are these sites 'sticky', and why would you spend hours of time there? Because it's all about you: you creating your identity and your world in your place for others to get to know who you are. You change and your life changes - and you can alter your page and your space to reflect that change. Your friends are an important part of your life, and if you can't see them, then you can visit their page and 'be in touch' with them. (Likewise, adult users might say that their professional contacts are important, and you can let them know what you're doing in that capacity and see if there are any possible cross-pollination prospects.) You can find friends you 'lost', or lost track of, if they have a page. You can also expand your social groups, if you choose, by 'friending' bands, politicians - hey, if I can 'friend' Michael Moore, Neil Young, and Henry Rollins on MySpace & Facebook, then why the hell wouldn't I?! (I think I can only Twitter Hillary Clinton...)
Again, I need to spend more time on MySpace - but I can already see that using Facebook would be like offering me unlimited access to Vosges Caramel Toffee. Uh, oh.
Friday, November 14, 2008
How to (mis)use IRIS
For anyone who hasn't stumbled across IRIS in their travels, here's a 'how-to' - provided you have a net ID, password, student ID, and pin number! Enjoy!
Rutgers Library - using Iris
Rutgers Library - using Iris
My Favorite SCILS598F08 Videos!
I was pretty impressed with everything, but if I have to choose...
1. How to clean your house...
Can I please hire these kids?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FLYRObljBM
2. Bah Humbug!
Tis the season...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7jSaoXlJmA
3. Cardigans, cardigans, cardigans!
Need anyone say more?!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjKWfJwUOdU
Thanks, everyone, for making a 'top list' tough!
1. How to clean your house...
Can I please hire these kids?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FLYRObljBM
2. Bah Humbug!
Tis the season...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7jSaoXlJmA
3. Cardigans, cardigans, cardigans!
Need anyone say more?!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjKWfJwUOdU
Thanks, everyone, for making a 'top list' tough!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Storm King Art Center
Storm King is, as you'll see on this 'tour', a beautiful, modern art sculpture park in NY.
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