If you're reading this blog, it's because blogs are a routine part of your professional growth. You view blogs as a valuable bedrock of the professional conversation. You may consider them to be at least as important as peer-reviewed publications,...
I heard with interest the recently recorded remarks by Google's CEO Eric Schmidt, who was asked to define Web 3.0 at the Seoul Digital Forum. Of course, any definition by a public figure is bound to generate comment. Hey, even...
At long last, I've had a chance to read Paul Coyne's March 9 blog entry, Scholarship in an age of participation. In his entry, Coyne outlines the rationale for an as-yet unnamed new scholarly journal that will embody the principles...
I'm in the final stages of preparing a talk on social software tools I'll be giving on Thursday at the Rhode Island Library Association Annual Conference. As I prepare my slides about the concept of "going where users are," it's...
Web 2.0 beckons. There's been a breathtaking proliferation of social networking sites that offer us all kinds of opportunities for interpersonal interactions. We can forge both personal and professional contacts on these sites and serve users in the bargain. Web...
As many of you know, a few days ago the social Web dealt a blow to the efforts of the trade organization Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator (AACSLA) to keep its encryption code secret. This encryption code is used...
I was struck - though not surprised - by the 200+ communities that sprung up on Facebook immediately following the April 16 Virginia Tech shootings. I've been looking at some of them. Clearly Facebook is playing a major role as...
Oh yes I surely do. Web 2.0 is an exciting place for librarians to be. The number of choices we have for hosting our 2.0 activities is amazing. And that's the problem. Let's consider the options for keeping up with...
As an academic librarian, I've been trying to get a handle on the emerging parameters of social scholarship. This is the practice of scholarship in which the use of social tools is an integral part of the research and publishing...
One major characteristic of the social Web is that it is very evaluative. People are gathering online to engage with content in ways that have the effect of passing judgment. These judgments can be either explicit or implicit. Explicit evaluation...
Tomorrow is Election Day. I've been considering how an academic library might recognize the day with a Library 2.0 approach. The library is the intellectual center on campus. We can make it relevant to our constituencies in a way that...
As we academic librarians consider establishing a presence in social space, I've been thinking about the cultural shift this would mean for us. We are so accustomed to bringing users into our online space and on our terms. A library's...
Facebook is a social networking site that allows individuals associated with "a supported organization, company, college or high school" to create profiles to interact with other Facebook members. Because of the institutional framework, the site has become popular with college...
Go to where the users are. This is a key Library 2.0 concept, and includes but also extends beyond ideas about roaming reference librarians, research help in the doorms, and other physical, campus-based activities. Social networking spaces on the Web,...