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Hi! My Intro!
I'm glad to finally be taking this class since it was one of the ones I'd notcied on the course listings in spring 2007 when I applied and I was quite excited about it!
Although I avoided the BBS craze, I was one of the first people in my town in Newfoundland to actually get excited about the Internet. I spent a lot of time there and looking back, it baffles me now how much things have changed. Ideas like streaming videos, truly interactive sites and Web 2.0 would have seemed like a joke to me at the time--or at least wishful thinking, but here we are!
I've very much evolved with the Web as it's changed. I was always big on the social aspect of the We, so social software and Web 2.0 is something I defeinitly latched onto fast and have kept using on a regular basis. I did the whole Geocities chat, then ICQ, then MSN and now am enjoying the newly enstated Facebook chat bar (though I still prefer MSN to it). Blog-wise, I got into LiveJournal back when you had to buy accounts to join, and am a regular contributor on the Newfoundland-based journal/web forum BlueKaffee. I used MSN Spaces for as well as social networking sites like Hi5, but have moved my efforts from them to Facebook, since most of my friends are on Facebook and I prefer to keep my blogging as centralized as possible!
I think that's enough blathering on from me for now! I look forward to working with you all this summer!
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Wow, that's a whole lot of social web experience, Brent! Glad to have you on board :)
Well I don't claim much depth of knowledge. I just like offering my opinions where they're [not] wanted. lol
"Everything I say is a lie...
... in fact, I'm lying to you right now..."
Hi Brent
Wow that's great!
Guess you were an early adopter of web 2.0 .
Having so much previous experience, do you have any early Ideas on how we can harness the Internet as a way to improve patron's library experience?
Regards,
Greg
I personally err more on the side of automating systems and making things accessible remotely than I do for the "customization" side, though I do thing it would be great if libraries could somehow adopt the "customizable front pages" that many sites offer today: allowing students to sort and arrange their favourite library services in a way that's intuitive for them, and also to use this as a hub for the library to keep the user informed of changes to the library. It would also be neat if libraries could suggest books users may like based on their loaning patterns. Though this might seem like an invasion of privacy, I learned in the "Information Retrieval: Theory and Practice" course that there isn't a great deal of invasion that occurs when running these sorts of applications, and to ensure user privacy, the library could make it a subscription-based service rather than an automatic one.
I dunno, sometimes I feel like I'm not creative enough to think of good ways to integrate Web 2.0 into libraries, but I certainly would love to see our services becoming more personalized, democratic and customizable for our end users.
"Everything I say is a lie...
... in fact, I'm lying to you right now..."