The Glorious Triumvirate of Social Networking - Week Seven

I was already at a steep advantage in this exercise due to the fact that I have a well-maintained facebook account, and a now-delapidated myspace account. If anyone would like to add me both accounts are under Julian Lee, postpostmodernist@gmail.com. I have also checked out bebo and, in recent times, other social networking sites. Now here is my evaluation.

Before starting at the libraries, my understanding of the demographics of the 'Big Three' were as follows:

Bebo is used solely by tween and early teen-aged kids
Myspace is used by teenagers and Americans
Facebook is used by adults and the rest of the Western World. I was under the impression that Facebook was the most popular choice for New Zealanders.

I was surprised, therefore, to find that the overwhelming majority of South Aucklanders (specifically patrons at Clendon) use bebo. This came as quite a shock to me. This is because I find bebo quite tacky in its layout - too many colours and images. Myspace is less so but I find it quite difficult to use, especially for posting messages on other peoples walls. It is also littered with advertisements. Facebook is quite professional in layout (minimalist design) and the most user-friendly - it is also the network that most of my mates use. Whilst FB does have ads, they are far less intrusive than on the other two sites where they clutter the page up.

I have also just recently signed up to a new social networking site - WAYN.com (Where are you now?) This is for travellers or would-be travellers. I am quite enjoying it because it enables me to keep in contact with people I met on my OE. There are also alot of travel-related features.

For the minute though I will keep using Facebook - it has served me well in the past. The growing number of applications on the site is a concern though - Facebook may soon succumb to a process of 'myspacisation' if it is not checked.

The Post-Library Library

The first impression I gained from reading these articles was that these library experts are preparing for a dramatic change that will happen to libraries on a global scale. In my opinion, it will transform libraries so much that the library of the near future will not at all resemble, in form or in essence, the library of today. I liked the concept of 'Web 2.0', which for me seems to mean the beginning of a true integration of the net with the way our society works. I can also see its applicability in the concept of 'Library 2.0' - transforming the library into a place in which this interplay between global online information and society can take place in the form of a public service. Or at least that's what I gleaned from the articles.

One concern for me is the quality of information being made available. I am not entirely convinced that collective information available on the internet is, or will be in the near future, on a par with the collective informationa available in print.

My second concern is the concept of accessibility versus availability. By making the net available to the public according to Web 2.0 principles, this does not necesaarily enable its accessibility to the public. In my own personal encounter with the public, I have found that by the far the majority of people do not have nearly enough knowledge of how the internet works - only how to navigate very specific sites such as bebo and y8.

Technorati: A Pretty Mind-Blogging Experience

I'm still trying to understand how so much 'information' from 50 million blogs can be organised. It's overwhelming.

I decided to look up information on the recent war between Russia and Georgia. I expected the blogs on this issue with the biggest hits would be from political journalists and correspondents, or representatives from international humanitarian organisations. Whilst some of the top blogs fell into this category, some of the more popular blogs were quite interestingly somewhat off topic. These included articles on why Georgia is the name of both a country and a US state, Ukraine's involvement in the war, and apocalyptic visions of the near future for the world.
They were good for a read, but in the whole, I was not able to glean more information on the topic than I would from your regular newspapers or RSS feeds.

Technorati, I think, is an attempt to live the long-sought-after dream of having a totally open and free media which every member of the public can scrutinise and contribute towards. This, theoretically, will allow information to flow freely into every crook and crevice of the global society. Such a process has been deemed by many in the past to be a necessary good. Technorati, however, highlights the downside of such a media service: the overwhelming majority of 'information' provided by the public is uniformed. Many blogs on important issues are based on no more than hearsay, whim and feeling. Whilst the contribution of millions of opinions on a topic will ensure overall objectivity, most of these opinions can only be deemed 'quasi-information.'

This, of course, depends on what topic you're discussing. I'm talking about the war in Georgia. A 'conscience issue', where no research is required, is a different matter altogether.

Del.icio.us

I looked around the ML's Del.icio.us site/account and immediataly recognised the value of this application. I was on the verge of setting up my own account, but at this point in Web 2.0 I have so many accoutns with so many different websites, all with different usernames and passwords, that I am struggling to rememebr them all.

As an ex-uni student I immediately saw the benefit of having a bunch of tags of different websites and online academic sources available to a select group of people, or even the public. Straight away I realised that this would be an excellent way to access specific information, very much a requirement for anyone doing research of any kind. This of course does not take into account that research can be highly competitive, and access to special resources a matter of top secrecy! But all in all I have alot of time for this feature.

With regards to the libraries, however, the demand for specific information is low. Perhaps with the arrival of the new university in Manukau this will become a different story. What it could be useful for, though, is public access to information on the net during times when books on a particular subject are in high demand. As is the case with the Olympics right now, as I'm sure you all know. Or Gallipoli in the week preceding Anzac day. Or the TOW in early February.

PB Wikis

I've just been playing around with ML's PBWiki. I started a new page, 'Favourite Music Artists' only to realise that there was already a 'Favourite Music' page which I hadn't seen (was under 'view all pages' on the left hand side of the FrontPage.) I cannot yet discern the difference between a normal internet forum and a PBWiki, excpet for the fact that it enables you to have a forum without having to set up your own internet website.

Wacky Wikis

Well after a week-long hiatus of Web 2.0 development, largely due to the fact that I was, and still am, extremely frustrated with Flickr, I have decided to tackle wikis. I looked at the various wiki links from the Web 2.0 site, and here is my review on each.

I found the St. Joseph County one quite cute - there seemed to be alot of 'grass roots' contributions. The site was a little messy, but it's essentially a good idea. I found the genealogy section particularly useful. This kind of wiki would be very popular in Manukau given the importance of family history in this city.

The Princeton Library wiki has obviously just got off the ground but seems to be quite a professional website. I think this idea would work particularly well amongst Manukau Library staff, who would then be able to read reviews from other staff in the city, and share them with the public.

The Library Success wiki through what appears to be a Wikipedia format (is it part of Wikipedia) is an idea which will impact all libraries everywhere. The links are too tenuous at the moment (there is little explanation as to what each link and link-to-link [what is the word for this?] entails). An idea such as this, however, will enable communications between libraries the world over on how to increase patron satisfaction and service, improve efficiency and develop the whole library experience.

I also skimmed through the other wiki links on the Library Success website. I found the bibliography on information about wikis at the bottom of the page somewhat useful. The library wikis themselves all looked particularly useful to their staff members. The idea relies on steady contribution from a large group of people, but the idea shows alot of potential.

Thw wikis are, in my opinion, one of the more useful tools an organisation can employ on the net, and one which is most relevant to the development of Manukau Libraries.

Not Having Much Fun with Flickr

I've uploaded some photos onto my new Flickr account, but as far as I can tell, thats about all you can do with Flickr - upload heaps of photos and then comment on other peoples photos whilst others comment on yours. Flickr seems to confirm the general feel I am getting of internet life these days - it's all for the purpose of self-aggrandisement. I talked to a mate the other day about Flickr and how to use it, and her obsession with it seemed to confirm this. After bragging about the amount of hits and comments she had had on her photos, I asked her why she should go to all this effort. She simply didn't know.

Anyway if anyone should have any desire to access my Flickr site, its under postpostmodernist.

The Cassette Tape

Conveniently passing over the Flickr chapter while I still try to master it, I thought I would give my little spiel about technology. For this I have chosen the cassette tape. They are much smaller and convenient than your standard LP record, and so far, it seems that one can fit more music onto them as well. At the moment I am building up my cassette collection, and already have artists such as Duran Duran, Dead or Alive, Flock of Seagulls, Icehouse and even Kate Bush! (I bought this last one on a whim.)

Another feature of this new technology I quite like is that I am able to make 'mixed tapes'. These are blank cassettes upon which I can record my favourite songs from my record collection. You then give these mixed tapes to people that you like. I've heard you can also record songs on blank cassettes from other cassettes, although I believe the 'double decker' cassette player required for this is quite expensive.

I also believe they are bringing out a portable device to play these cassettes, which would tremendous. But that could be some way off in the future yet!

It's all very exciting. Music has reached the pinnacle of accessibility and portability. This truly is a futuristic age.

Curse Librarything's Tricky Sign-Up

After being locked in a bitter struggle with Librarything in a bid to join it, I was finally enlightened by Marie as to how I sign up for it. Either its unnecessarily complicated, or it is a test for people with greater intelligence than myself.

Anyway here is my Librarything page: http://www.librarything.com/home/postpostmodernist

This generator was found at http://www.imagechef.com/ic/make.jsp?tid=Studio+Neon+Animated

A New Proposed Marketing Investment for Te Matariki

Librarything

I can't join up to LIbrarything, and I've tried many different ways. I have taken the tour but it simply won't let me when I click on the 'Join now' button. May have to skip this step.

The Rollyo Experiment

Well as you may have perhaps noticed (if indeed anyone is reading this blog) I have discovered Rollyo. To be frank I fail to yet see the benefits of this idea, that is, creating your own search engine to find information you need. Or, to put it another way, how creating a search engine to search specifically chosen blogs performs a task that Google can't. This is because if one knows how to perform boolean searches on Google or any other search engine, it shouldn't be a problem to find very specific information.

I do, however, like the idea of having a search engine on your blog. The search engine I have here has the ability not only to search the web, but all the posts on my blog. This has very little use at the moment, but if I were to produce hundreds of posts then it would be a good way to locate past comments I had made.

On the Hunt for New Feeds

With regards to using the search engines to find new feeds, I found Technorati by far the most user friendly and definitely the prettiest. For me it was what Google is to search engines for regular web pages. Through Technorati I was able to find some professional blogs which were specific to my interests, such as developments in the global political economy.

This searching for new feeds using these engines, however, brings up the same old issue - the amount of feeds one can get through in a day is very limited. Unless you are collecting feeds for the sake of it.

Beginnings of Week 3

I've been titu-ing with the blog generators and although this was not one of the true 'image' generators I found this one mildly amusing, but it was also one of the easiest to post onto my blog - all the url/http script was right there and ready to be copy and pasted. This generator is found at:

http://www.blogthings.com/italiannamegenerator/

There are some other interesting generators but again I found I could not get access to quite a few of them due to MCC restrictions.

Now to plough on through the confounding cyber-jungle.

Your Italian Name Is...

Raul Bianchi

What's Your Italian Name?

Having Overcome Aforementioned Obstacles

Hurrah! I've basically completed week two now. My public blogline account is http://www.bloglines.com/blog/escalating-entropy.

I like having access to only the information and articles that I personally want to read from the net, which this RSS system provides. In this way you can keep up with that special part of the world which interests you. However, it also seems to have a limited value - there would only be a certain amount of feeds that you would have the time to read each day.

For example, it will enable me to keep up with the current event which interests me most, world politics. I will be able to glean more news about international politics from RSS than any local newspaper would be able to provide. It also enables me to avoid sorting through various online international newspapers for information. Again, however, there is only so much I will be able to read in a day, especially considering that I have 19 feeds.

Libraries would be able to use RSS primarily for the purpose of keeping up with developments in libraries in other countries. In this way we would be able to gather new ideas about how to expand the horizons of the various libraries in Manukau - making them more accessible to the public, raising their appeal in the public eye, and so on. Library staff will also be able to keep in touch with current developments in technology, science, politics, literature, art and all other fields so as to improve their knowledge of these subjects.

Knowledge, after all, is the very essence of a library.

Blogging Dilemmas, Setbacks, and General Woes

This week has proven to be substantially more difficult than the first week. I have set up a bloglines account and somehow I am subscribed to six news feeds. It is beyond me as to how this happened. It is also beyond me as to how you subscribe to more news feeds, or anyone elses' blogs. I suspect this has something to with:

A) the various restrictions on MCC computers

but more importantly, B) my refusal to read and follow the instructions and try and work it out by myself.

How frustrating it is to be a young man who cannot even come to grips with the technology of his own time.

On the Purpose of The Blog

Having been introduced to blogging, my first thought was to question the purpose of blogging.

Is it to fulfill the need all people have to express themselves outwardly?

Or does it fulfill some greater need to communicate your thoughts to others?

Is it a result of some societal development in the early twenty-first century, or does it reflect human need which is not restricted by historical development?

The ultimate irony being, of course, that this is a blog in itself.