Week 5 Reflect Activity

Many libraries provide instant messaging and VoIP reference services, how would you feel about communicating with patrons this way? Do you think users would have different service expectations when then use these tools?

As I have personal experience using the instant messaging system run by the State Library of Queensland, I do think I would be more conscious of how the patron feels during the interaction. If a reference librarian is spending time looking for the information that the patron has asked for it can seem like the user is being ignored, due to the limitations of not being in the same physical space. If I was to run an instant messaging service I would think that it is important to constantly tell the patron what I am doing so they don't view my silence as ignoring them.

From personal experience I have found that something as simple as an emoticon can be enough to overcome the impersonal nature of instant messaging. While this would obviously not be a substitute for face-to-face interaction it can ensure that a friendly message is not misunderstood as being rude. However due to the fact libraries will have to uphold an image of professionalism care must be taken to ensure that emoticons are not overused. Despite this a simple smiley face could make quite a difference as it is always a good idea to smile during a face-to-face interaction within a library.

I do think that due to the above issues, library users would have lower expectations of instant messaging as it is widely understood that it is a much less personal form of communication. This does not excuse the fact that the librarian using the service must also be aware of these limitations so they can deal with the issues and make the experience the best they can for the patron. Overall instant messaging has its benefits but simple considerations should be made to at least minimise the drawbacks even if it is impossible to remove them altogether.

Week 4 Reflect Activity

I feel that while librarians could use online curation tools to create collections of web content it would ultimately have a limited scope. It could be useful for a library to collect web content relating to the local community; although with so many people already curating their own content I do not see it being a worthwhile use of a librarian's time. A quick Bundlr search for Brisbane came up with a number of collections. When this work is already done by members of the community it would be a better use of a librarians time to utilise micro-blogging tools such as Twitter to make people aware of web content collections that are already available. This would lessen the prospective workload for a librarian in providing easy access to web content for library users in their community.

I do however think that the tools would be easily used by libraries by simply setting up an account. For example I chose to use Bundlr in this weeks play activity and found it very simple to set up an account and then embed my collections in a web page such as this blog. If a librarian decides that it would useful for them to curate their own web content, it would be very easy to set up an account and allow all librarians to access and add to the collections. I could see this being relevant when a public library runs a particular event. If there are any photos or footage from the event it would be easy to collect the information in one place for people who are interested. By using a site such as Bundlr it may be possible for interested people who do not regularly check the library's site to come across this information. Then it would also be a simple matter of linking to the content via the website or Twitter.

Overall I think a library could make use of technology that curates web content but it is only really worthwhile if the content is related to the library specifically.

Week 4 Play Activity

Week 4's play activity was to use a curation tool. I chose to use Bundlr as it was recommended and I found that I liked the user interface. I chose to collect amateur videos of heavy metal bands that have played in Brisbane. I wanted to give a window into viewing the band from within the crowd, as professional videos almost never show this. Because of this the sound and video quality varies greatly in the collection but this could not be avoided. This was an interesting experience for me as I was personally in the crowd for most of the videos.

Week 3 Reflect Activity

As I hope to work in a public library once I have graduated from my degree, I decided to follow a number of public libraries on twitter to see how they utilise microblogging. My initial opinion of organisations using twitter was that it was a bit of a gimmick designed to appeal to a younger audience, however I quickly discovered that tweeting or microblogging can be quite effective at delivering information to a wide audience.

After observing the tweets, I found that twitter was mainly used to promote upcoming events or relay news regarding the library. These tweets would often link to another blog post that would elaborate on the  tweet. I found this to be a very effective use of Twitter's basis on shorter messages. In my opinion tweeting is a very good use of technology to overcome information overload, as people can quickly see if they would be interested in the story or event before reading a larger blog post on the topic; much in the same way newspapers use headlines.

Beyond the use of twitter to relay news and information, I have often found that a tweet will link to something that is not related to the library. Instead the article is something that could be of interest to someone who would follow a library on Twitter. While this does not relate to the library specifically it is a means to engage with the community.

Due to these observations I have made, my opinion of twitter as a tool for organisations has become much more positive. I can see that it is an incredibly valuable tool for organisations to share news and articles of interest in a world that is becoming overloaded with information. It also allows organisations to connect with their audience which can be a very positive experience for both the organisation and the community.

Week 2 Reflect Activity

My online identity has always been very small. I tend to be a very private person in the real world and that has been reflected in how I treat my online persona. My Facebook profile has strict privacy settings applied and I have a relatively small number of Facebook friends. I use twitter but do not actively post on it, preferring to just keep up with news that is relevant to me. I have recently signed up for Google plus in order to follow the community based around a subject I am currently studying at university; it remains to be seen how active I am in using Google plus.

I have never created a blog before for the previously mentioned privacy reasons. Creating a blog in a professional sense however does feel more appealing to me. Uploading my reflections, from coursework, for the world to see will be a great first step into blogging; the blog is not a public diary, which is what I find a lot of blogs to be.

My biggest hesitation is that once a blog has been created anything that is written on it will now last forever. Even if the blog is deleted, sites like the “wayback machine” can still provide information that has been posted online. As this blog is purely professional I am less worried about this and am somewhat looking forward to seeing what it is like to keep up a regular blog.

The act of regularly writing for a blog could also be a way for me to remain motivated in my work as well. I have written short stories in the past and I have often thought that if I were to write stories for a blog format that would help to motivate me to write more.  

In the future this may lead to me starting a more personal blog however it would most likely be written under a pseudonym.