Web 2.0 makes utilizing the Internet a more participatory experience. Using this technology provides you with opportunities to change content on websites, allowing for greater collaboration and sharing on the web. You may already be familiar with sites that use these technologies, but you may not have made the connection to Web 2.0. Examples include the ability to write a review on Amazon.com, to share a photo on Flickr.com or to bid on an item on eBay.com.
Here are some types of Web 2.0 sites, with descriptions of their features. Also provided are the names of some of the easiest, least overwhelming sites for novices.
Photo Sharing – Sites such as Flickr.com and Photobucket.com allow users to upload pictures, tag (label) them, and use them on message boards and other websites. Flickr also allows users to easily locate, use, and print pictures uploaded by others.
Podcasts – A podcast is a “digital audio program, a multimedia computer file that can be downloaded to a computer, an IPod, or another device, then played or replayed on demand. Updated content and new editions can be downloaded quickly and in some cases, automatically.” (Islam, 5)
Feed Readers/Newsreaders/Aggregators – A feed reader saves you time by “monitoring countless sites and sources and providing near real-time updates to one location.” (Gruber, 2006) In other words, aggregators bring rapidly changing content to the viewer. Information (including news, blogs, newsletters, podcasts, and weather) which is of specific interest to you is sent to a site for easy viewing. Free feed readers are available at Newsgator.com, Google.com and Yahoo.com. Subscribing to feeds is simple. If you visit a blog, for example, and you would like to keep up with the content changes, you can often click on the word “subscribe” or on a small icon. That site’s information is then retrieved and displayed on the feed reader site. (School Library Journal, 2008). You may see the terms RSS and Atom used when describing feed readers. These are two feed formats, both of which are supported by most feed readers.
Start Pages - Using a site such as Netvibes.com allows you to create a page in minutes which contains favorite bookmarks, current email account, feeds, search engines, weather, and many other web features on one page. You can access pages such as this one from any computer.
Collaboration/Word Processing – Writeboard.com and Google Docs (docs.google.com) are examples of online word processors that allow groups of people to view and/or edit documents. Document changes can be seen on RSS feeds.
Social Bookmarking Sites – Popular bookmarking sites like del.icio.us are used to save and organize websites that interest you. You are able to access your chosen sites from any computer. Additionally, you are able to share your bookmarks with others and find and use bookmarks that others have tagged.
Social Networking Sites – The goal of these sites is to bring people together. This can be done through sites that provide professional/business networking (LinkedIn.com) or opportunities to make new friends and keep in touch with old ones (MySpace.com).
Other Sites - Wikis, blogs, video sites (YouTube.com), instant messengers, and interactive maps (Google Maps) are further examples of sites that use Web 2.0 technology.
Important terminology –
AJAX - AJAX allows the content of a website to be automatically updated. The pan and scan feature found on mapping websites, allowing you to scroll to another area without refreshing the page, uses AJAX technology.
Folksonomies - A folksonomy is a tagging system. Each user classifies information as he/she sees fit, sharing the classifications between users. Thus a user can view all public pictures on Flickr.com that have a specific tag assigned to them. (Friedman, 2005)
Mashup –
“A mashup is an application that uses
1) modern Web integration technologies
2) to take content or services from two independent sources
3) to solve a unique or niche problem.” (Howe, 2007)
An example of this includes combining a mapping website with a local directory, allowing viewers to locate a business easily.
Tagging - Using keywords to identify data, to make it easy to locate and share with others.
XML – a language which is designed to transport and store data, XML complements HTML (which is designed to display data). XML allows users to upload content onto the web without using a complicated code. (W3 Schools, 2008)
For more information, please visit the following links.
5-minute video featuring David Berlind, Executive Director of ZDNet, titled What is a Mashup?
Excellent description of a feed reader.
3-minute YouTube.com video titled What is Web 2.0?
Introductory videos (2 to 4 minutes each) in a fun format teach the basics of RSS, wikis, social bookmarking, online photo sharing, and social networking at http://commoncraft.com
- Does your local library use social networking sites?
- How do you use social bookmarking sites to organize sites important to you? What sites (or types of sites) would you bookmark in a library setting?
- How could you use feed readers to organize and give patrons access to current events?
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/learnRSS
Friedman, P.K. (2005, September). Folksonomy. Anthropology News, 46, Retrieved February 26, 2007, from http://www.anthrosource.net/doi/abs/10.1525/an.2005.46.6.38.1
Gruber, F. (2006, March 30). The State of online feed readers. Retrieved February 27, 2008, from TechCrunch Web site: http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/03/30/the-state-of-online-feed-readers/
Howe, T. (2007, September 8). The truth is that everything isn’t a mashup. Retrieved February 27, 2008, from The Thomas Howe Company Web site: http://thethomashowecompany.com/278/the-truth-is-that-everything-isnt-a-mashup
Islam, K. A. (2007). Podcasting 101 for training and development. Pfeiffer essential resources for training and HR professionals. San Francisco:
XML Tutorial. Retrieved February 20, 2008, from W3 Schools Web site: http://www.w3schools.com/xml/xml_whatis.asp
16 comments:
My local library doesn't use any social networking sites. By doing so they would be able to reach out to patrons within the community and those outside of the local area.
Using a feed reader would help to notify subscribed patrons when an event is added to the library's calendar. It could help increase the number of attendees by notifying those who don't regularly check the website for updates.
In the library setting, I would include the following sites in my bookmarking list:
local/state/federal government
bestseller lists
library's website
homework help sites
local television stations
local newspapers
local radio stations
national news sites
national television stations
national newspapers
Jessica Kay-Oosterhouse
Jessica,
My local library does not offer online social networking either. In addition to what you have already stated, I think that RSS feeds could also be used to inform patrons about library news, such as emergencies or necessary closures, make the community aware of possible volunteer opportunities, in order to get them more involved with their library, to notify the community of special library events such as author books signings or library museums events, actives, promotions, and new library resources such as catalogs or databases, for example. I found an article(What is RSS and how can it serve libraries? by Celikbas) that discussed ways that RSS feeds could be useful to libraries. Some example provided included using a RSS for booklists or RSS feeds to improve reference services.
Does your local library use social networking sites? Not to my knowledge.
How do you use social bookmarking sites to organize sites important to you? I use Del.icio.us to bookmark interesting sites. I use RSS feeds for news. I have a slight obsession with news media so I have a ton of subscriptions to feeds.
What sites (or types of sites) would you bookmark in a library setting? The library's website, OCLC, Library of Congress, Amazon, Abebooks, Powells.com, Nytimes.com, Imooty, and local news.
I've been looking at some ways to apply RSS feeds to my library's website. It seems to me there's basically 2 sides to the RSS bit.
On the one hand, there's pulling in feeds produced in other places to help make your site more dynamic and up to date without having to do any 'work'. Right now, I'm looking at adding a Word of the Day. I considered some other items, like news headlines or weather, but we're an academic library and I'm not sure our page is quite the place for that. I'm hoping I'll be able to get some instution news/events as RSS, that seems more applicable. I'm also hoping the librarians will have some ideas (they'd suggested the word of the day bit a while back).
On the other hand, there's creating new feeds for your users. I've been looking at putting the News/Announcements into a feed, certainly. We also do a Book of the Week feature that I'd like to convert to a feed. I'd also like to add a 'Featured Database' feed. Currently, the librarians use an online acquisitions module for their firm orders, and I'd like to convert that into a feed as well, so when acquisitions get marked as 'cataloged', they get added to a feed. The librarians already catagorize their acquisitions when they place the orders, so each of those catagories would be a separate feed. It'd be nice if this sort of thing was built into the catalog, but I suppose that's hoping for a bit too much ....
Separately, my particular department shares a del.icio.us account, but nobody's used it yet. I have my own del.icio.us which I basically use to share bookmarks between my work and home machines, but I bookmark so little I haven't yet needed to take advantage of any of the features like tagging and the like. I expect when Firefox 3 gets its full release, I'll probably run it off a usb stick, and not even bother with del.icio.us.
1. Does your local library use social networking sites?
My local library does not use social networkings sites, as far as I know. They also have a fairly large base of adolescents that are present in the library after school most days, which is interesting. Maybe there are other ways to draw in that age group...
2. How do you use social bookmarking sites to organize sites important to you? What sites (or types of sites) would you bookmark in a library setting?
I don't use bookmarking sites. I have a laptop, it travels with me, I don't really find them personally useful. As far as in a library setting, I think it would useful to bookmark library info sites (MEL, OCLC and news and information sites like NYTimes and NPR).
3. How could you use feed readers to organize and give patrons access to current events?
Honestly, the more I read about RSS feeds the more I think that they are often over-exaggerated to be seem more intimidating than they are (much like I felt about wikis before I understood what they were). I think you could feed just about anything that was updated regularly, and that you thought people might need access to. As I don't work in a public library setting, it is hard for me to have interesting and creative answers for this question, because I don't know what the demand is for.
Does your local library use social networking sites?
Not as far as I can tell, but I can see how the concept could work for a library. MySpace is full of pages for concert and entertainment venues, so why not more libraries? (I did a quick search and came up with a couple, but they hadn't been updated recently.) It would be a good way to maintain contact with social networking-savvy patrons by posting event bulletins, book recommendations, or even online book discussion groups.
What sites (or types of sites) would you bookmark in a library setting?
I'd bookmark other libraries, local museums, theaters, and cultural institutions--anywhere in the area patrons might want to visit. I'd also include news sites from multiple political perspectives, especially smaller non-traditional sources.
How could you use feed readers to organize and give patrons access to current events?
RSS feeds would be a great way to keep patrons updated about library programs, new books (and other media), and community politics and events. Instead of signing up for an e-mail list, we could encourage patrons to add library RSS feeds to their readers. (Maybe we could even work on creating programming to teach them how to use RSS readers on the web!)
I really like the idea about RSS feeds being used to notify patrons about upcoming events or new additions to the catalog. Email is very similar, but it involves a librarian either triggering a notice or actually putting together a draft and sending it out to various groups. For example, when our youth tech wants to publicize an upcoming program, she puts together the text of the email, then pulls everyone in from each group list she wants to include before hitting the send button. This requires nothing on the receivers end but to actually read the email, but can require a bit of time on the senders end. How much easier would it be for the sender to just add the event to the calendar and have it be automatically delivered to the receiver's feeds. Of course, this would require a bit of time on the receivers end in the beginning, setting up an account, learning the basics of the feed and subscribing. Once that has been accomplished, though, it is just as easy as reading an email.
If I were going to push for any one of these technologies to be used at my library, this is the one I would choose.
To my knowledge, my local library does not use social networking sites. My sister, who visits the local library on a weekly basis, just informed me that the library has added MySpace.com to its list of sites blocked by their filter. I highly disagree with a library using filters, but I also find it sad that our library is taking a step backwards instead of forward when it comes to social networking. If handled correctly, social networks could really benefit the library and bring its patrons together. Jessica mentioned libraries taking advantage of sites like MySpace.com to maintain contact with patrons. Many of the people using MySpace.com are people in their teens and twenties and this just happens to be the age group that libraries are having trouble reaching. Having an account would be a great way to connect with this age group while keeping them informed on what’s happening at their local library.
I like the idea of using feed readers to keep patrons informed about what is going on at their local library. Libraries can keep their patrons up to date on current events and special functions happening at the library and around the city. An RSS can also inform patrons about new books and any new or update services offered at the library.
My local library does not use social networking sites such as myspace.com or facebook.com, but I think that blogs can be considered social networking sites in some contexts too. My local library has a few blogs, one generic blog about happenings at the library/community, one teen blog for the whole district, and a teen blog aimed at one particular branch and their events. An RSS feed for the generic blog is used right on the home page of the library, and until today I didn't even realize it was an RSS feed.
I do not use social bookmarking sites because I do not regularly bookmark new sites. I have the few that I check regularly, but it is not overwhelming enough to need a social bookmarking site.
There are many sites that I would bookmark in a library setting. Perhaps having a del.icio.us account for the library would be a good idea. People could share bookmarks with other patrons on certain topics of interest. I wonder if any libraries do this?
It was interesting to read through everyone's response to the first question about libraries using social networking sites. With all the articles and discussion we have been having about social networking sites being a must for libaries, I was beginning to feel that my library system was behind the times because it did not use them.
We have just started a blog that for teens that is slowly garnering no attention from the teens, but we are hopeful.
I think my library system is wary about promoting certain sites within the library. I just recently prosposed a program for the March Madness Tournament using ESPN.com to keep track of all the brackets, scoring and so on, but the program was not approved because the people in Admin thought that we should not be affiliated with or promote the use of a commercial site like ESPN.com. I know the social networking sites are not quite the same, but I wonder if our hesitation does not stem from the same wariness of promoting those sites?
1. Does your local library use social networking sites?
My local library doesn’t use social networking sites. It would probably be a neat idea for groups within the library to use these sites. Teen groups or reading groups could use networking sites to reach out to others who might be interested in joining but aren’t able to (for instance, if they are home-bound). They could use the sites to keep in contact with one another, to keep others apprised of up coming events, or they could blog about a current topic of interest or a book.
2. How do you use social bookmarking sites to organize sites important to you? What sites (or types of sites) would you bookmark in a library setting?
I don’t use social bookmarking sites. The closest thing to that that I employ is the bookmark/favorites option of my web browser. In a library setting I would bookmark the following:
News sites (AP, CS Monitor, Reuters, NPR, CNN, AFP, and local news networks)
Government sites (usa.gov, LOC, kids.gov, NARA, Michigan.gov, and local government)
Homework help sites
Resources for parents
Resources for seniors
Book sites
My library uses some social networking but not as many as I would like to see. They have events that are taking place at one of the branches. They have a few links like for kids to educational fun games. Since I don't use the library computers I really don't know if they have bookmarks.
My local library hasn’t implemented any social networking capabilities into their website yet. Though I think it would be great fun and beneficial to do so, not only for the younger patrons, but also for the elderly patrons who are really searching for more contact with people who have similar interests and yet are incapable of physically getting to them.
As for the social bookmarking sites, I have never heard of them until now. I am excited about trying them out. The possibilities for this technology in a library setting are endless. It could easily cater to the varied interests of a library community. Initially it would be important to bookmark some basic and general search engines, subject specific search engines and websites, local interest websites, news, education, and so on. Patrons could extrapolate and add to these.
My local library also does not use social networking sites. I love the idea of the RSS feed for upcoming library events, and someone ementioned for emergency closures which I had not thought of (how could I forget in all this snow?!) but which makes sense.
I also doon't use bookmarking except for the tool bar either, but I can see how marking news sites and book sites like NY Times bestsellers or the like would be useful in a library setting.
My local library seems to be stuck in 1.0 land -- despite being ahead of the ballgame in many other areas. I am surprised by this because social networking is very popular in our community and most people use the Internet as an important mode of communication.
I also think it is important to point out how photo sharing has been revolutionized in the past couple years. I can remember, as a high school student, maintaining a Geocities website. I used it mostly to share photos but constantly had to delete old ones and often met my data transfer limit in just a couple hours of viewing. This just goes to show that physical data storage capability is one of the driving forces behind Internet changes; for users to participate on the web, there has to be room for their content.
An additional source of technology is now being used more frequently. Open source software is starting to take hold in many libraries. Open source is software that is developed by many people and is freely available to all. It is a communal effort with the purpose of advancing the software and technology. It is a perfect fit for libraries. It is available at no cost, which frees up monetary resources for other things. In an article for Computers in Libraries magazine Amy Begg De Groff she states;
“open source software is consistent with the mission of libraries. Open source software is designed and maintained by a community of users. Open source software includes free redistribution of the source code and its technology. Similarly, libraries share information, access, and services freely. Libraries do not seek to make a profit but to expand educational opportunities for all.”
Unfortunately, she is only partially correct libraries are starting to charge for some computer services. Maybe open source software can remedy this problem. Ironically, the Computers in Libraries magazine doesn’t offer online access to its content.
Begg De Groff , Amy. (2008). “Using Open Source to Give Patrons What They Want”. Computers in Libraries, 28 (3), 6-10.
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