It's Delicious!

Delicious has proven easy to use and the ability to tag, share and keep accounts public or private, has allowed me to use this social bookmarking tool not only as a method of storing and sharing bookmarks related to my university work but to also keep more personal information, such as the sites I'm finding on babies. I can also share these bookmarks and tags with other Mums I've met through various activities. For an information service professional, the feature of sharing and tagging could prove very useful.

The ability to share is a great feature allowing users to benefit from others bookmarking. As a student I can discover sites, through bookmarks created by teachers and students, that can lead me to articles and research I may never have discovered on my own. As a librarian, I could share this knowledge with fellow staff members at the library, allowing for the knowledge to be passed on and utlised within the industry. An information service could use Delicious to direct patrons to the latest news about their organisation and how it fits into the change in other organisations as well as share knowledge on the latest book releases, reviews and other sites relevant to their organisation. 

Tags can be added to bookmarks and can be tailored to the individual and an information service could use this function to tag items in a way that makes sense to their audience and to connect similar sites (by using the same tags.) The function is very quick to apply and easy to use and could be used effectively by someone with even minimal understanding of delicious. The tags created by others could also aid those working in the information service to locate bookmarks tagged with relevant tags by other users to aid in the collection of data about a topic for themselves, their workplace or even a client.

Although a lessor known service than MySpace or Facebook, Delicious can be easily set-up and introduced to patrons of the library (Rethlefson, 2007) and be used to co-ordinate many links to sites, as suggested in Rethlefson's article, from links to information for local students assignments or local news items.

References

Rethlefson, M. (2007). Tags help make libraries delicious. Retrieved 21, March, 2011 from

  www.libraryjournal.com: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6476403.html

On a side note, nothing to do with the Delicious evaluation, this post had the unusual problem of not keeping to the default font. After trying several different methods to change the font, eventually the whole thing had to be deleted and re-typed. Fortunately, I have been typing posts up in a word document and then in the blog so all that was lost was some editing.

The Web as Social Space or How we, as humans, create and use technology

Why do certain technologies become popular in some countries and not others?
Do we always use the technologies that are the best for the job or just the ones that are popular?
Why are a majority of interviews just talking heads?
And, of course, what does all this mean to me?

Being presented with two articles by Kevin Kelly on The Technium http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/ we have been given the opportunity to think about the questions above and explore the ideas they evoke.

Thinking on why certain technologies prevail in certain parts of the world while failing in another leads me to recall a book I read a few years ago titled Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. The basic premise is that certain ethnic groups were going to gain wealth and power in the world due to certain chains of developments that allowed them the ability to make guns, fight germs and create steel (I am oversimplifying here but I'm sure you understand why!). Of course, as Kelly points out in his article, sometimes it's just a matter of doing what we've always done; what everyone else in our "tribe" does. How does this impact my life? Well, when looking at social networking technologies, I can see myself falling into the habit of using what is not only familiar but also what my friends use (my tribe). I am more prone to using Facebook than Twitter, even though I would spend much less time on Twitter due to it's nature, merely because more of my friends and family do. I'm sure others could find such examples in their own life.

As for the article on interviews, it was great to see a different approach to conducting an interview with the words spoken in the interview on screen instead of just the talking heads. My first thought at this was that it would be cold and hard to relate to but I actually found I paid more attention, mainly due to the fact that as there was writing on the screen I had to read it!  And I think because this interview wasn't a personal, emotional one like on a talk show, you didn't feel like you were missing out on any facial expressions or gestures that would help to understand the interview better. On a side note, maybe it was the white text on the black screen but it did kinda remind me of being back at school with the teacher writing on the chalk board.

I know this entry turned into more of a personal experience but I felt it important to get my own thoughts down before I go and explore others - that way I can look back and see which thoughts were my own.

First Entry

Assessment Item 1

          (a) define what social networking is (in your own words)

Social networking is a way of sharing information online,both professional and personal, through tools such as Facebook, YouTube, flickr etc. By sharing information through such sites, people become connected through interests shared or friends in common, building a community of like-minded people - i.e. a social network!

(b) list what social networking technologies and sites you already use (for personal, work and study purposes)

1) Facebook - used for personal, work and study purposes.
2) YouTube - used for personal purposes, sharing videos with friends and family
3) Twitter - used for personal purposes, following friends & celebrities

(c) describe what you expect to learn from completing INF506.

I expect to learn more uses for the social networking tools I currently use as well as gain awareness of other tools out there, focusing mainly on their usefulness within a library setting and I hope to be able to bring some of this knowledge to the library I work at and introduce some social networking tools there.