If I ran the circus...

I really wouldn't change too much. This has been a really informative, entertaining, and practical class. I reviewed some things I already knew a lot about (blogs, social bookmarking), and tried some things I never thought I'd try (Facebook, Second Life). Overall, I learned a lot, and I'll certainly put it to practice, whether personally or professionally.

Now that the nice stuff's out of the way, there are a couple of things I'd change. First of all, I'd clarify the grading procedure and make sure to comment on posts. When I checked my grades in eCompanion, I always found one lone comment relative to one of my posts, when some weeks there were several required posts. If I ran the class, I'd make comments about each post, preferably directly on the students' blogs. I think that if students take the time to write the posts (or papers, or whatever), the professor should take the time to grade them and make individual comments (this goes into a larger argument on my distaste for profs who use TAs to grade everything - a prof chooses to teach a course, he should be able to handle the grading - but I digress).

Going along with the former point is I would make sure that each week's assignment included commenting on classmates blog posts. We only had to do this for a couple weeks, but it would have been nice to have done it every week.

Aside from that, I thought the course content was great and I enjoyed the class!

Second Life

Yeah, not so much.

My experience in Second Life was both fun and frustrating. Fun when I was with people, frustrating when I was alone. As soon as I logged in for the first time, Renee and Gabrielle were there to greet me, and took me to Svarga (?) Island, where we formed a band, Mad SCILz, and rocked it out on some percussion instruments. That was fun, because they weren't absolute novices like myself, and were able to help me. We voice-chatted for a while, and then went our separate ways, but not after taking a screenshot of our band (I'm the loser in the middle who hasn't figured out how to change her clothes):


Then, I went back in a couple days later, to try SL by myself. I found Info Island, poked around there, then teleported myself to Eduisland, where a man in a wheelchair rolled up next to me and knocked me over. Not cool. So, I teleported to the art museum on Info Island, and made several attempts at getting into a building. I wasn't able to get in - had I had friends around (or anyone at all, for that matter), I probably could have asked for help and figured it out. But instead, I figured out how to change my appearance, and called it a day:


Overall, SL really isn't a service for me. One, I'm not interested in immersive gaming, and two, my machine had a tough time with it - graphics took a long time to render, even logging on and off was tough. I can see the advantages for, say, hermits, but I'd rather go out and socialize with my real-life friends, not my Second Life friends.

Boyd reading

If this were a strict question, the lesson that libraries should take away from the boyd reading is that libraries should be cognizant of where they advertise online, because certain networks appeal to certain audiences. If a library is in a lower-class area, it should advertise on MySpace, where it would receive the most attention. If a library is in an upper-class area, it should advertise on Facebook, where its users are likely to be members.

What propels this disparity? How many times has MySpace been on the news as a vehicle for pedophiles and stalkers? Many. How many times has Facebook gotten the same bad rap? None that I can recall. I don't believe that either service is inherently bad or for one class only, but because it's a social networking site, users will gravitate towards the site their friends are using. Because Facebook started out as a ".edu" only site, they naturally have more college-educated users. MySpace is open to all, and doesn't require any kind of credentials, making it accessible for the working class and beyond.

Ning

Overall, Ning seems like it would be great for use in a work environment, if you work with people who are accepting of new technologies and willing to participate. For the comparison, I love pros and cons, so here we go:

Pros:
- can be set to be totally private, including a member log-in and new member approval
- because of privacy settings, would be good for office/school setting
- nice templates, easy to customize
- easy to set up, add/drop features
- allows personalized domain name (for a fee)
- if used in business, allows for younger employees to keep Facebook/MySpace accounts separate from work

Cons:
- hefty price for ad removal, extra storage
- if used in business, must educate users on how to use Ning
- has potential for being a timewaster ala Facebook/MySpace
- may be automatically blocked by some business networks

Podcasts vs. text blogging

So... I've never really been into podcasts. I subscribe to a couple through iTunes, but I always forget to check the podcast section for updates, so I end up with dozens of unheard episodes, and I just delete them all. The way my iPod connects to my car stereo doesn't allow me to play podcasts from the directory on the iPod; I have to put them into a playlist, which is annoying and I forget about. So, podcasts aren't my modus operandi for blog consuming. For blog producing, podcasts are a nice way to add a personal touch, but I'm self-concious of how my recorded voice sounds (on the phone, I've been mistaken for a teenager; I'm 27). Recording is certainly easier than writing, but there's no "delete" button if I make a mistake; I have to either finagle with the cut function in Audacity or re-record the whole thing. Not a big deal for my 2-3 minute podcasts, but could be an issue if I was using podcasts to teach a class, a la Steve.

I really prefer text blogging, as a producer and consumer. With text blogging as a consumer, I can easily skim a post to find information that I'm interested in, and can easily skip the stuff I don't want to read. As a producer, I find that I have a good level of control over a text-based blog. I can save a half-finished draft to finish and post later, I can easily integrate links and pictures, and in general, have more editorial control.

Wikispaces vs. PBWiki

I have experience using Wetpaint wikis (a former prof used it), and Wikidot didn't look too appealing, so I went with Wikispaces for this comparison. Wikispaces seems to be a pretty basic wiki service. Setting one up was easy, but there was a lot of push towards paying for one, as it would be ad-free and have greater content control. Editing the page was easy, too. However, the layout tools, the "pretty" factor, is where Wikispaces failed. There were only 4 available themes, none of which were fantastic. There was also an option to change the background, text, and link colors, but no options to change the font or basic layout. Again, there was a lot of push to pay for a wiki, to have a wider variety of themes. I only used Wikispaces for about 15 minutes, and I'm sure that if I played with it longer I'd feel more comfortable with it. However, because we've been using PBWiki for the duration of class, I feel more comfortable using it, and if I ever had to set up my own wiki, I'd probably opt for PBWiki.

Delicious vs. Magnolia

First of all, what's with the periods in del.icio.us and ma.gnolia? What purpose do those periods serve? They bother me. (It wouldn't bother me as much in ma.gnolia if it was placed at the syllable - mag.nolia - but it would still bother me.)

Now that that's out of the way, each service has its pros and cons. So... list time!

Delicious...
- has a simple, clean interface.
- intuitive bookmarking - comes up with suggested title, tags
- integrates with Firefox (and probably other browsers too)
- separates tags with a space, so you have to tag with oneword or one_word (which annoys me, but not as much as the periods in the middle of words thing)

Magnolia...
- has an aesthetically pleasing website
- adding a bookmark through the site is cumbersome - it doesn't suggest title or tags
- separates tags with commas, not spaces, so no oneword or one_word tags
- puts the "social" in "social bookmarking" with its many public groups

That said, I'm a Delicious user. It's become a web standard, and I don't think I'd switch. Maybe it was just me, but I had a lot of problems logging into Magnolia and bookmarking sites (had to click the "go" link several times before it would let me bookmark something, had to copy and paste the link directly from the browser).

Digg

As with many other social softwares (is that the right plural?), I had a passing knowledge of Digg. I had seen Digg chicklets and read about Digg, but never really explored it. I chose to review Digg because I'm a (very passive) user of Goodreads, and a quick look at Librarything and Shelfari told me they were very similar services. After another quick look at the other three options, Digg had the most asthetic appeal, so it won my review for this week.

Digg is essentially a user-edited "news" aggregator. I use the term "news" very loosely, as recent headlines include blog posts about last (Tuesday) night's debate, an article about a video game for wannabe DJs, and a picture of a cow with a child's toy car stuck on it's head. Digg is very easy to set up and has a pleasing interface. There are various categories at the top, and a small arrow next to each heading lists several subcategories, which is helpful if you're looking for something specific. However, the point of the site isn't to search for a specific article, it's to discover news that really is new to you. Submitting a link is fairly easy as well, though the several links I tried to submit were already on the site. However, you can make something more popular by "digging it," clicking the "digg it" link next to a headline. If you click on the number of diggs, it goes to a statistics screen about the link - when it was "dugg," who has "dugg" it, who has blogged about it, etc. On the negative side, because the site is user-edited, there are a huge variety of sources, and you never know what you're going to get. For some, this may be exciting and interesting. For others, it may be overwhelming.

Although there were a lot of interesting and positive points about Digg, I don't know that I would continue to use it in my personal life. The immense variety of sources, both authoritative and not, was a little off-putting. Additionally, though the categorization is great, I would get annoyed by having to click back and forth between categories. Overall, Digg is a very well-designed site with lots of interesting features, but it's just not for me.

Feed, pt. 2

So I guess I went a little overboard with my first post on Feed. This one will be shorter :) I both enjoyed and disliked the book. As a stand-alone piece of literature, it was great. I'm not a big sci-fi fan (unless you consider Harry Potter sci-fi, which is a whole 'nother discussion), but as a piece of literature, I thought it was well written.

However, as a societal commentary, I was a little disturbed by it. I hope this isn't where society is going. The idea of feeds literally becoming parts of our bodies disgusts me. I believe that it's important for everyone, not just kids and teens, to "disconnect" every once in a while. As much as I enjoy my general internet tomfoolery, there are some days when I just don't want to be around the computer. The children in Feed didn't have that opportunity, and it makes me sad that some people actually want a life so connected.

The dumbing-down of language, or "teenspeak," is another disconcerting point. I hear it all the time, and it drives me crazy. Many of the students at my school, and many of the students in my graduate courses (about 20 years dividing the two groups) pepper their sentences with the words, "like, um, yeah, uh, y'know, I dunno." Not only is it difficult for them to be understood, it makes them sound unintelligent.

Overall, I think the book was written as something of a warning. If we continue at the path we're going, look at where we'll end up - feeds in our heads, hacking our own bodies, disconnect and die. Anderson seems to believe that we're too connected for our own collective good.

Feed

I had read Feed for another class (Materials for Young Adults) last spring, and enjoyed it then. However, re-reading it in the context of this class was different. I picked up on things I hadn't noticed before, and it made me think about my own habits.

My favorite part of the book is the dedication - "To all those who resist the feed." Right from the start, Anderson displays an obviously dystopian view of the future. In this future world, consumerism is the name of the game, and everyone's feeds are there to tell them what to buy, what's cool, what to think. Life is simple, and nobody needs to think - the feed thinks for them (see p. 80-81 in the book).

Anderson draws many parallels to today's teens and the teens in the book. They both have their own slang, are tuned into trends, are connected to each other, and experiement with drugs. While teens today use internet short-hand slang (lol, brb, j/k) in everyday speech and writing, the teens in the book use null for boring, unit for guy/girl, mal for bad, and (my favorite), brag for cool. Teens today are connected to each other via always-on cell phones, IM, and social networking sites like MySpace. In the book, the teens are connected via wireless chatlines embedded in their brains. Teens today experiement with all kinds of drugs, from prescription drugs to pot. Teens in the book get scrambled or go mal, which is a way of hacking their internal feeds and going haywire. Feed reminds me of Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series. The teens in that book use their own language, and though they don't have internal feeds, they do have computers monitoring their every move.

I don't know if Anderson's view of the future is possible in the ways he describes it (pod-like homes, vacations on the Moon, flying cars), but the feeds he describes are practically here, they're just not internalized (yet?). We want to be instantly satiated like the kids in the book are - but to the point that nothing is new and exciting? What's clear is that we have become accustomed to instant gratification. Photos can be viewed instantly on a digital camera, and they can be printed in less than an hour. Whole meals can be cooked in the microwave in a matter of minutes. Everything we need is a click away online. Is this good, necessary? Is it good that in the middle of this post, I stopped to check my email? Even while I'm writing, I'm thinking about the myraid other things I could/should/want to be doing online - emailing friends about a party next weekend, seeing if the shoes I want are on sale yet, planning a mini-vacation for November. Doing all of those things requires me to visit many websites. Would it be good if I could just think about all that content and have it delivered to me? The kids in the book would think so.

Personally, Anderson's idea of the feed scares me. Earlier in the week, I signed up for Bloglines and Google Reader. I instantly fell in love with GR - all my feeds in one place! Yes, it's convenient. But is it necessary? Is it that much of a hassle to visit each website? It has simplified my life and cut down on the time I spend online, but is it simplifying me? Technology does save us a lot of time, but we have to be careful not to lose ourselves in order to save a few minutes.

WordPress vs. Blogger

WordPress is...

• more customizable, especially if you know HTML
• has an informative and powerful dashboard
  
• for "serious bloggers" or businesses
  

but...

• it has a less user-friendly layout, especially if you don't know HTML
• certain upgrades cost money
• has little social networking; their "blog surfer" feature is beta
• not all layouts support widgets; user has to switch to one that does, or manually fix the code
  

Meanwhile, Blogger is...

• great for the casual blogger or those unfamiliar with blogging
• owned by Google, which explains the simple, friendly interface
• big on the social networking/entertainment aspect of blogs, especially with widgets and add-ons
  
• free
  

but...

• it's not as customizable as WordPress
• it has limited storage for multimedia
• it's easier if you have a Google/Gmail account (for picture sharing, email, chat)
  
• feels like an "entry-level" blog, while WordPress feels more grown-up and "corporate"

Who wins?
For the casual (or class-required) blogger - Blogger. It's free and easy.
For the discriminating (or smarty-pants) blogger - WordPress. It's customizable and has a more grown-up feel.

Admirable library blog

I found the Marin County Free Library's blog to be a notable library blog. It has a lot of great features, but a few minor annoyances. Marin County is located in California, north of San Francisco.

The good:

• Comprehensive information about a variety of programs and activities. Over the course of a few weeks, there are postings about a "henna party" for teens, a puppet show for children, and a poetry reading for adults. A few posts are in-house plugs for library cards, and an FAQ site, but most of the posts are about events happening in the various county libraries. Many of the summer posts were about teen activities. Assuming that many of the library's teenage patrons use the internet and are familiar with the blog, this is a great way to advertise. There is a teen page, part of the library's website, but it isn't as up-to-date as the blog.
  
• User-friendliness. The blog is easy to read, with muted colors and a basic font. A column on the right displays links to other parts of the library's website, along with direct links to recent posts and archives. It isn't intended for one specific age group; rather, it appeals to all ages.
• Frequency of posts. New posts appear several times a week, and the blog is archived monthly to October 2003. The posts are all substantial and feature pictures and comprehensible information about various activities.
  

The not so good:

• Chat? There is a link to "Ask a Librarian," which eventually leads to a site called Ask Now. Essentially, the user's question may be answered by any librarian, anywhere in the U.S. Great for providing 24-hour service, but not so great if a user has a question that is specific to the Marin County Library. Additionally, the chat interface requires that you give your name and town (and requests your email, local library branch and zip code), and looks more like a web-based email form than an actual chat window. Once you get in the chat, it looks more like a regular chat screen, but it's full screen and can't be minimized.
• Internal navigation. Most blogs have links at the bottom which take you to older or newer posts - this one doesn't. Instead, you must navigate to older posts using the Archives links. The heading picture is static, unlike many websites which use the logo or header as a link back to the main page. To internally navigate from an archive page to the main page, you have to use the browser's back button. Also, posts aren't tagged, and there is no search feature on the blog, making it difficult to search for a specific post.

What can other libraries learn from this blog? Be inclusive. Post about activites for all ages. Use a simple, clear format and intuitive navigation. Offer several methods of contact, including email and chat. Post about goings-on in the library and the town, and connect to the schools.