Solving Problems with Web 2.0

Solving problems with “Web 2.0” technologies Dorothea Salo 9 October 2009

A 2.0 Taxonomy

What 2.0 services tend to have in common • Interactive, not broadcast • Comments • Ratings • Conversation • Collaboration • Network effects • “Glue” for mashups and recombination • RSS, PubSubHubBub, APIs...

Stuff, or people? • Stuff • Flickr: photographs • YouTube: video • Pandora, Slacker, last.fm: music • delicious.com, digg, reddit: links • WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal: writing • People • social networks: MySpace, Facebook • “lifestreaming”: FriendFeed • talking: IM, Twitter

Using 2.0 to solve professional problems

esse nger M EmailCiteULike Instant ERVs RSS feeds L ISTS TECHNOLOGY FATIGUE del.icio.us eblogs W

Here’s the secret... • They’re just tools. (Okay, and toys, but we’re at work, right?) • Tools solve problems. • No problem? No need for a tool. • Otherwise... START WITH THE PROBLEM NOT THE TOOL!

Problem: Keeping up... without drowning • I get too much email. Don’t you? • Wouldn’t it be nice if... • Routine notiﬁcations didn’t interrupt your day • Routine notiﬁcations went quietly away once you read them, instead of cluttering up everything? • You could ask questions or discuss matters without bothering people who aren’t interested?

Solution: Weblogs plus feedreaders • There’s a catch: you need both! • If you just start the weblog, nobody reads it. • Eventually, everybody goes back to email because “nobody reads weblogs.” • Three steps 1. Start everybody on Bloglines or Google Reader. 2. Start the weblog. 3. Go cold-turkey on email! • Start with a small group.

Works for professional reading too! • Too busy to read the print literature? Me too. • The same people who write the literature are writing weblogs! • Andrew Pace... has a weblog. (“Hectic Pace”) • Roy Tennant... blogs for Library Journal. • Lorcan Dempsey... has a weblog. • Catholic librarians too! • http://lifeofacatholiclibrarian.blogspot.com/ • http://catholiclibrarian.blogspot.com/

Problem: Writing collaboratively • Everything from policies to pathﬁnders! • Emailing Word docs around is a hassle. • Nobody knows who has the latest version. • One version + three editors = three versions (or more!) • Inbox gets clogged even more. • Often you want the ﬁnal version on the Web. Word is a lousy choice for that! • Ugh, there’s got to be a better way!

One solution: wikis • No, you don’t have to let “everyone” edit them! Or see them! • Some have WYSIWYG plug-ins, so you don’t have to memorize weird punctuation. • Tip: wikimatrix.org to choose a wikihost that’s right for your purposes.

Another: Google Docs • Docs and Spreadsheets (docs.google.com) • Also slides! • Restricts access to just the people who need to see it • Exports to MS Ofﬁce, Open Ofﬁce, HTML, PDF, text • ... so if you need that Word doc, you have it!

Problem: Getting stuff on the Web fast • Who wants to hassle with Dreamweaver or FTP? • Who can afford to wait while one designated person puts things online? • Who can afford to wait for changes?

Solutions: many! • Weblogs • for announcements • Wikis • for collaborative knowledge-bases • especially great for reference • Project-tracking sites (Basecamp, etc.) • Twitter, if you’re brief

Problem: Keeping track of stuff • More stuff ﬂashes up on the Web than I can possibly remember. A lot of it is useful... but not right this second. • But when the need arises... will I remember where the site is?

Solution: social bookmarking services • delicious.com: granddaddy of ’em all • Steps: 1. Sign up. 2. Add a bookmarklet to your web browser. 3. Bookmark, tag, remember! • The “social” part doesn’t have to matter.

Solution: online reference trackers • Connotea • I ﬁnd it a bit clunky, but it works. • Zotero • Firefox only • You can share citations with a group or with the world! • PDF and website storage, full-text search

But, Dorothea... lem! prob d my w cribe o kno en ’t des sed t n to You hav I suppo .0 solutio n am How er there d th ’s a 2 at solutio w heth will I ﬁn it? How exists? eve n if it

Solutions • Keep up with one or two general-awareness techblogs (in your feedreader!). • I like lifehacker.com and Librarian In Black. • Have your del.icio.us bookmarklet handy! • Build your network of 2.0 users, on and off- campus. • Listen when colleagues, patrons, friends talk about the tools they use! Then check ’em out for yourself. • Eventually, you will develop your “2.0” radar... and see uses for new tools as they turn up!

“The social” what does it mean for us and our patrons?

Networks of stuff • Can help us share and publicize our collections • Adding digitized materials to Flickr • Can help us track what’s new and worthwhile • Can offer us materials for legal use and reuse • Flickr, ccMixter • Open access, open educational resources, open textbooks

(A word about copyright) • If it’s on the Internet, assume it’s copyrighted. • “Credit” is NOT a defense against infringement • If you want to use it • Public domain or US government documents • Creative Commons • Fair use and TEACH Act exemptions • Linking is generally okay.

Networks of people • Connect us to our colleagues • Connect us to our patrons • Connect us to our family and friends

Facebook • Started as a collegiate network • Expanded to alumni, then everyone • Serious, repeated privacy breaches • Still extremely popular, especially among teens and college-age youth • “Stranger danger”? Not really.

MySpace • Facebook competitor • Popular among youth of lower socioeconomic status • So if you block MySpace but not Facebook... • Bands and musicians well-represented • Use declining slightly

Twitter • 140-character “microblogging” • For all the talk about teenagers, most popular among the 30+ set! • Has its own customs • “Retweeting” • Hashtags • Fun, easy to play with

Recommendations

“Do I have to?” • Sometimes! • Are you going to turn down a workable solution just because it’s 2.0? • It never hurts to know what your learners are doing. It may help. • But there are also blind alleys, and beware the “creepy treehouse effect.” • So the ﬁrst thing to do is listen. • Listen to your patrons. • Listen to your colleagues. • Listen to your heart! • Play. Really.

Thank you! Dorothea Salo dsalo@library.wisc.edu AIM: mindsatuw

Solving Problems with Web 2.0

0 comments

Notes on slide 1

5 Favorites