Week 3: Blogging

Multi-user Blogs

            Blogs have mostly been the effort of a single author that has her/his own distinct personality.  It is this unique personality that readers get to know. The sense of getting to know a unique individual blogger is not as prominent with multi-user blogs as it is no longer only a single author posting to the same blog. Pitfalls that could arise are repeated posts and lack of cohesiveness among authors. When one author is posting she/he is very involved and knows her/his blog well. When there are multiple authors, there is no master of the domain which could possibly result in the authors investing less of themselves in the blog.

I think that multiple views are definitely a plus when they balance each other out, but not if they publicly clash. For example, if a patron asks a question and the multiple replies to the query are all very different and contradictory to one another, the patron would only be very confused.

On the flip side, multi-user blogs can be advantageous in that there is contribution from more than one person, possibly offering more colourful, diverse and rich content. In the professional field, it may be advantageous to have several people working together as a team to represent the institution. It may be a good idea for the authors to communicate regularly if possible to make sure everyone is on the same page; to discuss any issues – what is working, what isn’t.

Successful Blogs

I think what makes a blog and any social software successful is knowing the users and community and their activities online. In one of the readings, the idea of a blog in another language was suggested. I think this is a great idea - a good way to reach out to the community and provide a link for people in the community to interact.

Survey research can be conducted to learn about who the users are and what they do on library sites, what they would like to be able to do and see. I came across a really interesting article about a project Bibliocommons is undertaking to "transform online library catalogues from searchable inventory systems into engaging social discovery environments."

A conference was held to discuss the possibility of collaborative research into how libraries could best utilize the virtual world to engage users. Representatives from various provinces attended. After, Alberta, BC and Ontario agreed to participate and provide funding for this project. I feel this is a very good approach to take towards implementing social software in libraries.

Case Study            

           I particularly liked the St. Joseph County Public Library Gameblog. The photo section is a great way to help foster a community site. I think people are more inclined to be involved and feel involved when they can see their picture and pictures of others in the community up on the site. Speaking of pictures, the gaming bloggers have a photo/avatar posted. Giving some kind of face or identity to a blogger really helps users feel like they are talking to a real person.