Twitter and how it can be useful

While lying in bed this morning I was reading a copy of the Woman's Day magazine (April 11) and stumbled on an article about the Missionbeat manager Daniel Petsalis.The article was titled 'I use Twitter to save lives'

Now if the article didn't have that title I probably wouldn't have bothered reading it but it now had my interest.

In the article it told how Daniel has over 1000 followers. I just looked him up on twitter and discovered that he has 1 353 followers.
He says that by using Twitter he is keeping people informed about what he is doing.
He even helped save a suicidal lady who sent him a message via Twitter.

Well, maybe this has changed my view on Twitter slightly and it can be used for good and not just gossip by mindless celebrities.

Conclusion of module 5 and INF506

I can't believer that I am at the end of my last module. I never thought I would reach this place in my learning.

What next???
Well I guess the answer to that is to get stuck into the two assignments I have to do. I am feeling comfortable with the second assignment as I have already done my 3 online journal activities so I guess that means at least half of that assignment is done.
The first assignment is doing my head in though as I really want to get a strong start on it, but I also want to wait to see how the library blog ends up. I guess I will search out readings etc and work on my plan etc so that it won't be as time consuming when I really need to be doing it.

Having read Tim O'Reilly and John Battelle's blogs I have done as suggested and added them to my blog list on my home page of my blog.
Since beginning this subject I have added many good blogs to the list, a list that didn't exist before the start of this subject.

Oh well, off to look at my other poor neglected subject as well as trying to get a start on these assignments.

Social media/networking policies for organisations - module 5.

On the home straight now!!!

Social Media Policy for School Districts This was the first slideshow that I watched.
It was a good presentation as it reinforced all of the things that I had learned during this subject.

Social Media Policies for Government Agencies: Why and HowThis was the second presentation that I watched. It was good in that it offered suggestions on how government agencies should write their own policies and the areas that need to be included in them. This was not particularly helpful to me in my current teacher librarian role, but it will be worth keeping a record of it in case I should ever need it.  

Social networking and information policy - module 5 at last!!!!

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am so happy to be up to my last module.

I have completed my 3 online journal activities and after I finish this module I will be able to start work on my project which is well under way, although it is a shame that the school holidays are here as the kids at school have really embraced the blog and I am worried that this momentum may come to a halt. On the other hand if we have a few wet days they might go on the blog to kill time. Only time will tell I guess.

What is information policy?

"Information policy is the set of all public laws, regulations and policies that encourage, discourage or regulate the creation, use, storage and communication of information." (Weingarten, 1989).

What policy issues have resulted from social networking?

 

I watched this video in amazement as all of the facts and figures were given.

My 16 year old son also watched in amazement, except he said that it went too fast to be able to process the information.

The part of the video that had the most impact on me was the way the size of computers has decreased over the years, as has the cost of computers.

Really good stuff, I think that I will put this onto the staff blog as it is something everyone should see.

I am so very glad that I have completed my 3 online activities as the remainder of this unit of work dealt with online activities.

If I have time though I wouldn't mind coming back to do the activity related to the YouTube clip as it looks like it would be interesting to do.

Developing a social networking marketing strategy - module 4

Marta Kagan's slideshow (2008)What is Social Media?

 In this slideshow Kagan highlights the importance of developing a social media strategy.

I loved the slideshow as it was very informative about why businesses need to have a social media strategy in order to succeed in business. I loved the way she got you in when watching the first slide that compares social media to teenage sex!

Teaching about and with social media - module 4.

14 Ways K–12 Librarians Can Teach Social Media, in Tech & Learning by Joyce Valenza (27 September, 2009)

Reading this article proved to be very beneficial as Valenza included many excellent websites and links that are useful to me in my role as a teacher librarian.

I love her saying "Google rocks but it's not the only band in town".

 

Working the social: Twitter and FriendFeed - Let these social networking services do the filtering for you in Library Journal by Laura Carscaddon & Colleen S. Harris (15 June 2009)

This second article demonstrates how you can use twitter and FriendFeed to support professional learning.

I found this article informative as I had never heard of FriendFeed.

At the end of the article we were given 20 suggestions for ways to use twitter in your role as a librarian. Very helpful considering I was at a loss to find value in twitter. This has changed my view of twitter slightly as I can now see some benefit for using it.

The impact and benefits of Learning 2.0 programs in Australian libraries project, and Dr Michael Stephens, Richard Sayers & Warren Cheetham's VALA 2010 Conference paper which evaluated the implementation of Learning 2.0 programs in Australian libraries.

While I can understand why this article has been included in our readings I found it irrelevant to my interests at the moment. it was a study conducted in Australian libraries. 

at the moment I am also studying EER500 about educational research. From the perspective of having to write a research paper I found it interesting as it demonstrated the way a paper should be set out. Apart from this aspect I found it quite useless.

At the end of this unit of work I was disappointed to see some wiki's etc that we were to view didn't link properly. Such a pity as it would have been good to see what other people are doing.

Online Learning Journal Activity

Select three (3) libraries of your choice that use social networking to meet their goals.

Develop a comparative table which documents how each of the libraries use social networking tools to support information service provision, educational programs, conduct business etc.

Based on this comparison (and in no more than 350 words) develop your own list of “Reasons why libraries should be on social media”, and draw upon aspects of these three libraries to illustrate each point.

Library	Information Service Provision	Educational Programs	Conduct Business	Community
Clarence Regional Library	Embedded within the council website. Net library eAudio books.	Trove. Homework help. Interactive sites for children-Premier’s Reading Challenge. e-resources for HSC students. DataBase access from home. Access Encyclopedia Britannica from home.	Join online. Online catalogue. Online Reservations. SMS notification of availability of book in branch. Online interlibrary loan reservations. Online renewal. E –newsletter. Ask-a-Librarian. Free wireless Wi Fi.	Book reviews. Quick links for kids, teens and seniors. Links to newspapers. Family history. Local history. Web links to over 33 different areas of interest.
State Library of New South Wales	Blogs. 345 bookmarking sharing options. E-newsletter. Facebook. Flickr. RSS feeds. Twitter. Video and Podcasts. Vimmeo.	Discover Collections. E-Resources for students. E-Resources for teachers. E-Resources for academics.	Online catalogue. Online renewals. Computer bookings. Free wireless Wi Fi. Ask-a-Librarian. Digital downloads.	Links to: Indigenous community. Community languages. Services for Seniors. Family History. History of our Nation. Drug information. Legal information.
National Library of Australia	Blogs. Facebook. Pandora. Picture Australia. Podcasts. Twitter. YouTube.	Digital Collections. Trove. Online DataBases. Australian Newspapers. Music Australia. Australia Dancing.	Online catalogue. Online renewals. Computer bookings. Ask-a-Librarian. Electronic calendar.	Links to: Family History. History of our Nation.

Burkhardt(2009) suggested four reasons why libraries should be on social media. Using this as a starting point for my reasons I have also added a few more.

Communication and to engage – Only the State and National libraries offer Facebook, twitter, blogs, podcasts and a variety of other tools for engaging the community. These are important if the library wants to engage the younger members of society who are very comfortable using the different social media. The regional library uses SMS messaging to notify clients of the arrival of a book in the branch that they may have requested, while the other two libraries don’t seem to promote this method of communication.

Respond to Positive/Negative Feedback – Using social media like Facebook is very important as it encourages feedback and increases dialog between the user and the provider. Unfortunately the Regional library is lagging in this area and possibly should look into the viability of using social media to communicate with its patrons.

Marketing – It is important to attract potential users by illustrating the services provided by the library for all ages in the community. The Regional library does this via the website while the other two libraries rely more on RSS feeds, blogs, Facebook and Twitter.

Understanding the community it serves – The Regional library has quick links on the website divided according to the age of the user. The State library has a reputation earned over many years and a definite community that it is well aware of and serves well. Both it and the National library have embraced social media and the way that it can be utilized in the library to serve the community. These two libraries are also better funded than the regional library and possibly have experts of digital media on staff to ensure they stay up to date in this area.

Accessibility – All libraries allow the catalogue and DataBases and the opportunity to renew loans externally.

Partnerships with other libraries – All three libraries provide opportunities to borrow from a wider network of libraries, thus adding value to the services in the libraries.

References:

Andy Burkhardt’s post Four Reasons Libraries Should be on Social Media  (August 25, 2009).