Web 2.0

The past two months, I've been exploring the use of Ning by public libraries to create communities centered around reader's services. We started with a look at Lafayette Readers in Lafayette, Colorado and the online discussion forums at Lisle Library District. I was pondering the third installment when Pam Sahr, Horizon System Administrator at the Lafayette library, emailed me about Ning's changes to user logins and the implications it had for the privacy of users.

Ning's blog announced the changes to ning.com here: http://blog.ning.com/2009/03/the-new-ningcom.html Read More »

The past decade has seen the rise of amazing technology that allows people to exchange and access information at speeds never before imagined. We can work faster, we can exchange money faster and we can get news faster. This technology continues to grow, evolve and expand rapidly, and I think I can say with complete certainty that it isn't going away. Obviously, I think this is a good thing...I wouldn't be the editor of the blog if I didn't. But with great power comes great responsibility, and as amazing as the Internet is, it certainly has done plenty of harm to go along with the good.

Like the economic crisis, the Internet is in many respects, a giant mess that no ones really understands. Is anyone in charge of the Internet? In the United States, can we point to any government or private agency that is truly in charge of regulating the Internet? Is anyone truly charged with the task of preventing online piracy, identity theft or child endangerment that can come from Internet use? Sure, the FCC and various other agencies have roles, but they are far from clearly defined at this point. Read More »

Hot on the heels of Cindi's outstanding coverage of the Darien Library's Drupal Unconference, I had the chance to attend a smaller, in-person Drupal event of my own.The event, hosted by librarian and all-around Drupal enthusiast Leo Klein, included over twenty participants and took place in an instruction room in the library at DePaul University's downtown campus right here in Chicago.

True to form, the event was informal, open and was a great forum for discussion. While attending, I couldn't help but think of Cindi's description of Darien's Drupal Camp as an incredibly "human" conference, and how the same applied at this event. As participants introduced themselves, not one person described themselves as an "expert" on Drupal. The majority of attendees had never actively used Drupal, and were there because they were curious about what it might be able to do for them. People wanted help--they wanted discussion, and they wanted others to know what they didn't know as much as what they did. Read More »

I wonder if Peggy Orenstein ever got a letter (or several letters) from someone she was hoping to gracefully lose touch with. Or had a friend who called her parents, trying to find out where she moved after college. Maybe she wished for an “ignore” button. More likely, she grumbled to a friend and continued pursuing her adult identity.

Orenstein’s thoughtful essay in last weekend’s New York Times Magazine about the impact of online living on the creation of an adult identity has shown up on twitter a few times and (natch) on Facebook. For those of us who joined social networks as adults, the question of how to navigate the often-dreadful tweens, teens and twenties online seems huge and difficult. Read More »

Today, more people are using social networking tools to broadcast more details about themselves and their day-to-day lives than ever before. With tools like Twitter and Facebook, people are starting to just put themselves out there, warts and all. What's amazing about these new tools is that they provide more than a simple forum for touting imperfection--they provide a forum for improvement. Read More »

The series I did last year on The Commons in Libraries has become part of my research interests these days and part of my presentations exploring "The Hyperlinked Library." Of course, the commons does not have to be just a physical space but can also be virtual. I thought it might be useful to explore what some libraries are doing to build the virtual meeting place.

Lafayette Public Library  in Lafayette, Colorado recently introduced Lafayette Readers, a virtual community built in Ning. I sought out Pam Sahr, Horizon System Administrator, at the library to tell me more about the project.

MS: Pam, how did the Ning project come about? Read More »

I really enjoyed ALA Midwinter. Touching down in 70 degree weather on Wednesday was a treat and participating in various activities with colleagues and folks who I admire is a great way to spend a few days in the Mile High City.

Last summer, I wrote about the use of Twitter at Annual. This time around everything seemed even more connected and accessible. I'm very impressed with what the LITA folks did with Top Tech trends. I made connections, followed meetings and got to chime in on various issues via my Mac and my iPhone.Other folks participated from afar. Read More »

I mentioned yesterday that ALA TechSource has started to use Twitter as a way to expand our coverage. It didn't take long for one of the fundamental facts about life on Twitter to emerge: Twitter is a fantastic tool for communication, but that communication is a double-edged sword.

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Web 2.0 expert and Library Technology Reports author Sarah Houghton-Jan posted this presentation at her blog Librarian in Black. "Web 2.0 Services for Smaller, Underfunded Libraries" can help librarians use social networking and other web tools to benefit patrons at little or no cost to the library.

In one of my major talks - "The Hyperlinked Library" - I use many different examples, and often change them to keep them as current as possible. One example I've used for over a year is the Dublin City Library's creation of a public portal with Pageflakes. While in London for Internet Librarian International, I got to meet up with Edward Byrne, Senior Web Services Librarian , and chat with him about the project.

I use the development of a library portal via a free tool as an example of how libraries can create something useful without 6 months of meetings, decision-making or using a  "home grown" IT solution that only one or two people can configure. Eddie agreed to fill me in on all of the details of Dublin's portal. It makes for a fascinating case study and in terms of timing and coincides with some recent developments that show the importance of caution when using Web 2.0 tools without planning for backups and changes in the tool. Our conversation started in London, wound its way through Facebook, and concluded via email. Read More »