Social Software

I decided to keep the the Week 13 element of evaluation for this week, since my thoughts on the evaluation of this course, Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and my own use of social software all connected together rather conveniently.

I can't believe the end is here.  Once I've finished this post, I'll be done all of the coursework for my MLIS.  I guess I should get it over with.  I've left a discussion of best practices and how I think social software can be best used in libraries until last, but I've been thinking about it all semester, with each week's topic.

Best Practices 

My personal experience with this course has been quite different from every other MLIS class that I've taken so far (1 left after this!). I've learnt a lot and interacted with tools that I was largely unfamiliar with 14 weeks ago.

I was not a heavy user of social software tools before this course began. I had a facebook account and occasionally browsed through flickr, but other than that I was pretty new to the tools that we discovered over this term.

Reflection on the Semester and Web 2.0

As the end of the semester draws near, it makes sense for us to take pause, reflect over the topics covered and the ideas discussed throughout the semester and to draw some final conclusions about social software in general, in relation to our personal use and opinions, as well as its place and use in a library environment.  

Personal Experience

Blogging for these past twelve weeks has been an interesting experience. I like how hyperlinks in a blog allow me to write for an informed audience, while providing links to background material for those new to a topic. Libraries can use blogs to inform patrons about upcoming events, services, highlight collections and answer user questions. Because blogs are a bilateral communications tool they encourage patron participation, accountability, and transparency more than one-way news releases.

There is so much I want to talk about in these last two weeks. In this post I will discuss my personal experience with social software. In the accompanying post this week, I will reflect on the distance ed experience as well as library schools’ role in promoting social software classes. Next week I will turn my attention to best practices in libraries.

Social software is huge, and has immense potential in libraries. What I don’t understand is why library schools such as this one are letting so many students graduate without any training in this area.