Authenticity of information and people online

Wikipedia - it's not the devil you think it is

“NetGeners” (Lorenzo 2007) are visual (as opposed to text-based) learners and are better able to process information and adapt to change. This doesn’t mean they are better at researching. They are “at sea, drowning in a pool of information, looking for life preservers”. We as librarians have always educated about where information resides, how to access and use it – and we are needed just as much now as ever. We need to equip students with information fluency skills (Lorenzo 2007) – combining information technology, information literacy and critical thinking skills. The trick is not so much information gathering, but making smart decisions based on that information.

Many educators used to (and some still do) shun Wikipedia (WP) – arguing that it is not credible or reliable. Studies have shown WP to be very accurate, on a par with Encyclopedia Britannica (Garfinkel2008). WP’s 7 million strong organic community ensures that incorrect information disappears quickly. Robots trawl for vandalism. Administrators and editors “clean up” incorrect, fraudulent or mischievous entries. Levels of articles exist – a Featured Article is one that has passed an official review and is verified by reliable sources and supported by citations.

Wikipedia is not taboo. It is a useful starting point for students when researching, but should be backed up with additional, verifiable sources. It is important, however, to teach our students that the instantly-gratifying results provided by Google/Wikipedia are no match for more complex library database searches.

HOT TEACHING TIP NUMBER 1  -  Use Wikipedia as a starting point for research. Many articles contain great information and they can also direct you to other valuable sources – links, articles, books etc that will provide further depth.

My Angle on MySpace Angles

What a joke! So what if people are trying to present themselves in the best possible way? Do they honestly expect people to post unflattering images of themselves? 

I could forgive the criticisers if the photos were photoshopped or manipulated, or if the person lied about a significant aspect of their profile, but we are talking about people who are just trying to present the best possible image of themselves online!

Yes, they may appear very different IRL, and yes it is narcissistic and perhaps those who engage are conforming to social trends but I think people are missing the point here - until you actually meet someone FtF, you should not expect to get a totally accurate idea of what they are REALLY like online - both physically and as a person. WHAT DID YOU REALLY EXPECT???

HOT TEACHING TIP NUMBER 2  -  Be realistic about what you see on the net. Take all content – images, comments, information – with a grain of salt and use your common sense for goodness sake!

References:
Garfinkel, S. (2008). Wikipedia and the meaning of truth. Technology Review, 111(6), 84-86. Retrieved 25/1/14 from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=c47029b3-fccb-4f51-a677-192e9489554c%40sessionmgr4002&vid=2&hid=4204 

Lorenzo, G. (2007). Catalysts for change: Information fluency, Web 2.0, Library 2.0, and the new education culture. (March). Retrieved from http://www.edpath.com/images/IFReport2.pdf

Sessions, L.F. (2009). “You looked better on MySpace”: Deception and authenticity on Web 2.0, First Monday, 14(7), 6 July. Retrieved 20/1/14 from http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2539/2242

Privacy, Identity, Security, Trust - does anyone really care anymore??

The glaciers are melting on the internet’s Anonymous Age (Pearson 2009). As we have shifted to Web 2.0, anonymity is a block to the collaborative environment we now experience. An example of this was experienced by Donna Stephens in our Facebook group – because we use different names on different sites, it is difficult to find each other out there. I guess the key is to either use your real name wherever you go (difficult as many sites don’t allow use of an existing username) or set up a unique username and use it across sites. 

DeRosa (2007) reports that most people are not terribly concerned about privacy security from non-fraudulent sources. People are seeing the benefits of trading some privacy for practical benefits. Many don’t review privacy policies (myself included) before registering and perhaps this is because we all just want to get in there and start participating in whatever the site has to offer. We have become Privacy pragmatists (Raynes-Goldie 2010) - concerned about privacy but willing to trade some of it for something beneficial. 

Facebook’s design assumes we want to share more rather than less. Creepers (Raynes-Goldie 2010) can tap into my photos (like and even comment on them!) without ever being friends with me (via a friend in the middle). I have no control over photos in which I am tagged or comments said about me. People are starting to notice this invasion of privacy and unless FB does something to make privacy settings easier to change, it may well lose users to anther provider. 

I do agree with Nadine Bailey’s sentiment (INF506 Facebook Group under Hannah Gleeson’s post, 3^rd Jan) that “it’s the price we pay for having free social media”. 

So what to do? Quit SN altogether and know that your content is completely private? I don’t think so! The benefits of being involved far outweigh the possible abuse/misuse. If you want to submit content to a public place, you must accept that the potential audience (often unintended) may view and use your content for a different purpose than what you intended. To dive in blindly and throw all of our personal bits around is foolish. We should carefully consider what we broadcast, and be somewhat aware of how that information and content might be used – knowing the cost of our “informational transactions”. (Pearson 2009)

References:

Bailey, N. (2014). Facebook Post Comment. INF506 201390 Social networking for information professionals. Found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/548561898554825/

 

De Rosa, C, Cantrell, J, Havens, A, Hawk, J. & Jenkins, L. (2007). Section 3: Privacy, Security and Trust. In Sharing privacy and trust in our networked world: A report to the OCLC membership. Dublin, Ohio: OCLC. Retrieved 1/1/14 from http://www.oclc.org/content/dam/oclc/reports/pdfs/sharing_part3.pdf.

Pearson, J. (2009). Life as a dog: Personal identity and the internet. Meanjin, 68(2), 67-77. Retrieved 15/1/14 from http://meanjin.com.au/editions/volume-68-number-2-2009/article/life-as-a-dog/.

Raynes-Goldie, K. (2010). Aliases, creeping, and wall cleaning: Understanding privacy in the age of Facebook, First Monday, 15(1), 4 January. Retrieved 15/1/14 from http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2775/2432.

Stephens, D. (2014). (Facebook Post). https://www.facebook.com/groups/548561898554825/permalink/584043065006708/?qa_ref=pp

Library Website Design

Here's my checklist for a decent library website, making good use of Library 2.0 technologies. Although required to do this in 400 words, I found it just wasn't enough - apologies for shortened language! 

Library Website 2.0 Checklist:

1.      Audience appropriate:formal/serious, fun/humorous, light and informative, traditional or progressive?

2.      Design - bright, interesting and inviting? Text broken up with visual cues, relevant images/links? Do children’s pages use bright bold colours/design?

3.      Social Media – combinations of SM used to reach audience and break away from one-way communication?

4.      Pages regularly updated to keep interest up and information current/relevant?

5.      Is the site easily accessible on a variety of devices?

6.      Good use of Widgets to highlight areas or provide functions – eg new books, calendar?

7.      Opportunities for two-way interaction that allows users to be actively engaged? Visible to all so that library is seen as open/transparent, and interested in serving user needs?

8.     Catalogue user-friendly, easily accessible and visible on every page? Allow federated searching?

9.      Help-Desk –multiple, easy ways to get help – eg face to face, phone, email, online “ask a librarian” chat.

My local Library - Mt Barker Community Library:

Mt Barker Community Library Home Page

Suggestions are highlighted in blue below 

1. The target audience is wide – the feel of the site is fairly neutral, which I guess caters for all types. I’d like to see it a bit more contemporary and “funky”.
2. The design has a conservative blue/green colour scheme. Text is nicely broken up by visuals. Clear menu choices. Kids pages are bright & bold. There is no obvious “Home” link which is annoying. Some new books do not have cover images which would add to the site. Toys do not have images or reviews, which would be very beneficial.
3. Good use of social media is made: 

• Link to the Facebook page - front page has a stream of photos etc that come directly from FB
• Suggest an item
• Renew overdues, place holds
• View reviews/ratings (books)
• Add reviews, ratings, tags, comments (if you subscribe). This allows access to communities, groups, clubs, chat rooms etc – now that’s pretty cool!
• RSS subscribe to receive new item feeds.  

The Library does have a Twitter account, but it is not mentioned anywhere on the website. It is used simply to repeat what has been posted on the FB page. Perhaps this could be an avenue for tweeting interesting library-related information.

4.      The site is regularly updated – although new titles that appear on the front page are always adult non fiction – would be good to vary this.

5.      The site links to a Mobile access app – but the reviews of this app are far from positive.

6.      Good use of widgets - new titles, news and events – booking service, local history service.

7.       “Connections” allows users to connect to others worldwide, but there are no real opportunities for discussion on the site itself. Comments are able to be made through the FB page – I would suggest that they put this feed on the website too and invite comments that way.

8.     The Catalogue is easily accessible and has federated searches to narrow down and find items quickly and easily.

9.      Only email & phone are options on the site and obviously face-to-face if you go in. It would be good to add an instant “Ask a Librarian” widget as current email response time was about 1.5 hours. (which is not bad).

References:
Lazaris, L. 2009. Designing websites for kids: Trends and best practices. Smashing Magazine. Retrieved 8/1/14 from http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/11/27/designing-websites-for-kids-trends-and-best-practices/.

Mathews, B. 2009. Web design matters: ten essentials for any library site. Library Journal, Feb 15, 2009, Vol 134 (3), p 24.

McBurnie, J. 2007. Your online identity: Key to marketing and being found. (Blog). Freepint. Retrieved 10/1/4 from http://web.freepint.com/go/features/2510. 

Governor, J, Hinchcliffe, D, & Nickull, D. (2009). Web 2.0 architectures (1st ed.). Sebastopol, Calif.: O’Reilly Media. [ebook] Accessed via Safari Books Online at http://proquestcombo.safaribooksonline.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/9780596514433.

Edmodo - great tool, but you need the classroom teacher's support too!

I’ve been using this great educational social media site for a year or so and am now actively using it with the primary school classes that I work with. It has so much potential, but I have found that the level of student engagement is very much dependent on the outlook and enthusiasm of the class teacher for engaging with technology such as this – there are still many “old school” teachers out there who are reluctant (or not confident) to embrace social networking technologies which can assist in the teaching/learning game. How do we get around that?

In my situation, I am only at that school one day a week. They (the teacher) may be engaged and seemingly enthusiastic while I am physically there working with and encouraging them, but I feel as though the rest of the week is back in the dark ages. One teacher was unable to remember her login details to a group that she created for her class. Because she had not implemented the “post moderation” feature for teachers, not only was she totally unaware of what her students were posting in that group, but she was also unable to moderate inappropriate posts!! Poor practice!

I have decided to focus on those teachers who are open to the idea of modifying their practice, incorporating new technologies and who are willing to change and learn. They will then help spread the word – when others see the great things that they are doing in their classes, they may be encouraged to experiment with the same.

An example of this occurred with a class I had last year – I worked with a well-respected Year 6 teacher. Her students came up with some brilliant Prezis on Australian authors. When shown at assembly, she was swamped with praise and people wanting to know more about it. I then found myself with requests from new classroom teachers wanting to work with me the following term!

So, this is the approach I will focus on – continue to suggest ideas, encourage, mentor and support the “old-school” brigade, but at the same time grab hold of the more “contemporary” minds, introduce them to new ideas, technologies and things I’d like to experiment with and work together to WOW the rest of the school and convince them of the merits of these new ways of achieving learning outcomes.