Ning

Wow -- I really like Ning! I would think it would be especially good for small group projects, or work. I want to spend a lot of time learning more about the options available. The fact that you can create your own social network, add your own users/members, and photos, video, etc is very empowering ;-)

I really see a lot of potential with using Ning in my library work. Since this is my first attempt at creating a social network, I just created one for fun this time, but will be using it to learn about the various options and see what I might be able to do with it in the library world. My ning page can be found at http://libblue.ning.com/

Facebook

I created a facebook account a couple of months ago on my husband's recommendation -- he was right! I like it, and find it fun, especially to "play" with friends. I realize that there are more work-related utilities available, but so far I'm just really having fun! Stacey told me about Catbook, which I absolutely love!!! (Thanks Stacey!) I created a profile for both Pickles and Rosie and they now have online cat friends. My profile page is
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1127731634

I like the Blue 2.0 at UK Libraries facebook page too. Great idea for a program like this!

MySpace assignment

My myspace page can be found at the following link:
http://www.myspace.com/lmcdavison

It was easy enough to create the account, but I must confess I haven't spent very much time playing with it. I tried to add friends to the account twice without success. I've been using Facebook for a couple of months now and I think that I just need to read up on the MySpace FAQs to learn how to do more.

One thing that I did do on MySpace was to add an event to my calendar. I went back later and deleted it when I discovered that anyone can view it from the web - so I definitely need to go back and figure out the privacy options first!

I liked the UK Libraries MySpace page - I suspect that undergrads especially would find it appealing.

YouTube review of library video

My favorite YouTube video that I found when searching for libraries was “The Adventures of Super Librarian,” a short publicity type video for the McCracken County (KY) Public Library. I liked the fact that it was short and hit only the highlights of services, while keeping the whole message light and fun. The Librarian was dressed as Superman/woman, breaking the traditional stereotype of a bun haired older lady shushing everyone.

Another video that I found relating to academic libraries was “The Otis Library Tour,” a tour and informational video about the Millard Sheets Library at the Otis College of Art & Design. This video had fast, upbeat music and a lot of humor, yet it quickly conveyed some of the great services available in the library. The video ran through each of the areas of the library while highlighting the staff at each location. It is a small library, but they did a great job of showcasing it, such as the laptop lounge where the patron was able to rearrange the furniture. They also made the staff seem extremely friendly and eager to help – not everyone can do a back flip over the Circ desk to assist a patron, but they all conveyed an inviting image of the library workers in order to encourage student interaction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS28qydjfsg

I think the YouTube format would be a great publicity tool for libraries, and maybe a short educational video would work as well. However, I think the short videos are better at capturing the attention of our college-age patrons. I’m a librarian and I got bored and quit watching a lot of them!

Podcasting - not so fun

So, it's taken me over a week to get the podcasting assignment completed. I had to download the Audacity software to make the recording, and then I had to find a software program to convert my file to MP3 format -- there seemed to be a lot in google, but I chose AceZ Mp3 Wav Converter and it worked great.

In general I found the whole podcasting experience to be a bit complicated, and am still pondering how one might use a podcast for their library. I'm sure there ARE lots of good uses, but I'm more of a visual learner, and I've been a YouTube fan for a long time.

The biggest problem that I had in this assignment was trying to find out how/where to post my podcast. Then I saw on our Blue 2.o blog that Bunheadky kindly offered us a couple of options. (Thanks Bunhead!) I chose to go with podbean. I was able to post my podcast, but am still trying to learn all the tricks and options of podbean -- it essentially creates a blog for you to post your mp3 files to then act as a podcasting host. There are lots of options for changing the look of my page, but I haven't had time to figure them out yet. At any rate, here's the URL to my podcast http://lmcdavison.podbean.com

Flickr

Flickr is great! It was very easy to create a free account, and they give you lots of space for posting photos. I also like that the site is so user friendly, it uploads your photos quickly and makes it easy to manipulate your collection. I think this would be a really great publicity venue for libraries -- especially for special events that you want to publicize, or even for a photo tour of your library. If remodeling or building a new library, the fact that anyone can access the photos without having an account would be another fantastic way to show the world what's going on at your library.

My flickr account is located at the following URL
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lcdavison

twitter try 2

Over the weekend, I was able to get my twitter account setup http://twitter.com/lcdavison and I managed to add a co-worker as another twitter-er to follow. I also added "I Can Haz Cheezburger" to follow, and of course I LOVED it due to all of the cat photos!

I think the idea of Twitter is interesting, but not really sure how it would be an effective communication tool for work. But as Sarah commented in the post below there seem to be a lot of technical difficulties with Twitter so far. I think it just isn't "cooked" yet.