Thing 11

Overall I have really enjoyed the 11 ½ Things course – who knew there were so many web 2.0 tools! I have been meaning to get to grips with web 2.0 for a long time (I knew there must be more to web 2.0 life than facebook!) but I felt swamped by the possibilities and didn’t really know where to start. The course has provided a framework in which to explore these tools and it is this structured guidance which I have found most beneficial. My favourite application was Prezi. I’d never seen this before and I thought it was excellent and such a welcome relief from the uniformity of PowerPoint. Given that it is so engaging I think it would be ideal when presenting to children and students, or to those with short attention spans!

For researchers and academics, I believe that Virtual Research Environments have the greatest potential to really change working practices.  Although wikis and blogs are hugely beneficial in terms of disseminating information and facilitating instant feedback, at the moment they largely seem to be things that are done alongside traditional methods.  Virtual Research Environments, Office 2.0, and cloud computing on the other hand offer new ways of working by enabling global collaboration (as well as global communication).  It is easy to envisage scientists in different laboratories all over the world logging on and working on the same document. On an individual level, it means not having to remember to carry around memory sticks. Furthermore, problems encountered with sharing files/not being able to access them because they were originally saved in different versions of the application, will be a thing of the past. For students, I believe that web 2.0 tools that facilitate sharing (rather than collaboration) will be the most beneficial. Presentation sharing software such as SlideShare, and the utilisation of YouTube to stream university lectures and conference proceedings make it possible for students to experience lectures from all over the world.

Many people’s first encounters with web 2.0 tools are likely to be for recreational purposes. Students due to start at university shortly will no doubt have Facebook and MySpace accounts, be accustomed to sharing photos on Flickr, and to watching funny videos on YouTube. It may however require a change of attitude for them to realise and accept the potential of these tools for academic purposes.  The same is equally true for librarians; how many of us have personal Twitter accounts but have far too easily dismissed the idea of setting up a Twitter account for our libraries?

My least favourite week was week 3 (tagging, social bookmarking and social citation-sharing).  Even though I can appreciate the practicality and value of social bookmarking I have always avoided setting up a del.icio.us account. I tend to just use two computers (work and home) and the sites I use regularly are compartmentalised and bookmarked to these, which seems to work for me. In respect of tagging and seeing what other like-minded people may also be looking at, again I can see the appeal, but for me this would be a downward spiral to never logging off (even now I spend far too much time browsing the ‘Amazon recommends’ and ‘other readers bought...’ sections).

Overall, the course has opened my eyes to the potential that web 2.0 has. It has reinforced the fact that web 2.0 can be exploited for academic purposes and the advancement of research, and is not just for social purposes.  On a personal level, a few of the tools are featuring heavily in my radar. I will now turn to SlideShare to prevent re-inventing the wheel when writing presentations/conducting research.  And despite owning an ipod for 5 years, I have never downloaded a podcast. 11 ½ has given me the long-overdue (and much-needed) push to sign up to iTunes.

In terms of where web 2.0 sits with library services, then it is apparent that there is great potential, particularly for improving the relationship between the library and its users not least because of the friendly tone of web 2.0 tools. Indeed a quick Google search reveals hundreds of libraries with a presence on Facebook or Twitter.  However, it is this very informality that may prove dangerous – when using cute and colourful mediums it may be easier for levels of professionalism to slip or indeed harder to achieve authenticity and sustain high reputations. This seems particularly true for blogs, which are increasingly being used to update users with library news. However, by their very nature blogs are highly personal and it may be difficult for the blogger to remain completely impartial and to adopt the persona of the library entity.  Also, there is the danger of web 2.0 overload for both library users and library staff (who may fall in to the trap of thinking that just because the library at a rival university has a Twitter account, so should they). Although we should feel lucky that there are many different mediums available to us for communicating with our users, we should not forget that the introduction of any new service needs careful consideration. The benefits and disadvantages of each web 2.0 application should be reflected upon and only those that we believe to be appropriate for our own service should be implemented. After all, each set of library users are unique, and only the library staff in each library will have an understanding of localised needs and preferences. In my library, the only web 2.0 application currently in place is a Facebook page. However, given that 50% of our library staff are completing this course I can foresee some interesting discussions as to whether web 2.0 should play a greater role.

Finally, the only downside of the course for me has been the difficulty in creating and memorising yet more usernames and passwords. This may sound silly but with an abundance of login-credentials to remember for numerous work systems, personal email accounts, online shops and bank accounts (to name but a few), it feels that my ever-diminishing brain cells are having to be sacrificed for the memorisation of meaningless codes. The final straw came when I found myself trying to log in to this blog with our Aleph password! On that note, I feel it is high time for Thing 11½!