Media Sharing Group Project

To begin with, please find the links to all of our various shared media on this Wiki. (code word: social)

Our group decided that we'd like to demonstrate the wide variety of media sharing options that are available to librarians with new social software platforms. We began with Greg's idea of "things to do on a rainy day", but decided that a general focus on what the library has to offer would be more appropriate. We all created media that was centred around "Your Library", - a sort of every-library. The media we created was all aimed at creating interest in the library's holdings, or serving the library. It could all be linked to from a common website or wiki, and could be connected through the use of social bookmarking and tagging, but it did not require that all staff at Your Library be deeply involved with the preparation of all material. Social software tools allow librarians to link disparate material in a variety of formats, so that users of the library experience it as a cohesive, communicative experience. Brent worked with online video, Greg created Flickr galleries, and Carolyn created audio files for story time.

For my section of the project, I wanted to explore Slideshare as a potentially useful tool for librarians who wanted to promote library services. Slideshare is an online service that allows users to upload their Powerpoint slideshows into a web format that is accessible to anyone. In my own work experience, I've found some of the presentations on slideshare to be very useful, and I think that it has a lot of potential for outreach and education. I've included a couple of my favourites in the "My favorites" section of my profile.

I created two slideshows, the first of which, Worldcat slideshow for LIS9763, is meant to demonstrate how basic instructionals could be delivered through slideshare, in a way that's potentially more appealing than a regular website. Worldcat is a service that I use all the time, and I wanted to produce an instructional that was quick, to the point, and easy to follow.

My second slideshow, The Dark Knight at Your Library, is designed to be an entertaining reader's advisory and book promotion for users who were captivated by this summer's hottest movie. I definitely wouldn't post it on the children's page of a library website, since most of the graphic novels I list would be very disturbing to the young.

Both slideshows were created in MS Office Powerpoint 2003, and then uploaded onto Slideshare, in a process that converts them into Flash. There are a few technical notes that might be useful to someone hoping to create their own shows. First, animation effects that I created in my shows did not come through after the conversion. Second, Slideshare has its own process for adding music to a slideshow to create a "slidecast", so any music will have to be re-added after conversion (at this time, the music file must be available through a URL). Finally, hyperlinks that I had successfully included in my shows were reproduced with unpredictable results in the slideshare shows. Links next to the Batman titles lead to Worldcat records, but they are rather finicky in the slideshare presentation.

Keen-eyed viewers will notice that both my presentations have a detective of some sort - Batman in one, and Sherlock Holmes in the other. This was not really intentional. I am a fan of Sherlock Holmes, but "Sherlock" has also become my go-to search phrase when I want to see what a library's catalogue is like (I haven't found a library yet that didn't have at least a few Sherlock Holmes volumes). As for Batman; when I was younger, I was a big comics fan - a Marvel comics fan. I watched the Tim Burton movies, sure, and I read a few Batman comics, but since he was a DC character, he was always "on the other side". Although I have to count myself among the seemingly few people who really dislike the new Batman film, I thought the success of the movie would almost certainly bring interest to bear on other Batman material, and so I chose it as my topic.