Overall Evaluative Statement

3 OLJ Experiences as Meeting Learning Objectives

Based on: Feeling Like a Complete Twit, What About My Perfectly Good First Life? & Yes, I Know 4.0!

As a new and formerly sceptical Twitter user, its power and utility have taken me by surprise this session, particularly in light of its use during natural disasters and political upheaval. Its potential for trouble also surprises me and causes me to think before I tweet. Courtney Love's defamation case, based on her tweeting that fashion designer Dawn Simorangkir is a "nasty, lying, hosebag thief" and accusing her of prostitution, assault and drug-taking (Hooton, 2011), reminds me that the adoption of social media by organisations such as libraries should also see these organisations adopting social media policies (Lauby, 2009). Libraries using Facebook, Twitter, delicious, flickr and the like will need to pay close attention to issues of intellectual property, privacy, equitable access and acceptable social media use and behaviour across all platforms. Social media policies are one way to set ground rules for its use and to remind its users that what is posted is not private and reflects positively or negatively on the organisation; it has a wide and growing audience.

Even if I personally do not use Second Life as much as Facebook or Twitter, I should care about Second Life as a librarian because, according to Frank (2008), our library users are increasingly using it. Librarians in Second Life are mimicking traditional library services such as answering reference questions and referring users to collections of information as well as providing programs such as book talks, story-telling, exhibitions and concerts (Frank, 2008). Professionally, Second Life can be used for networking and professional development meetings (Frank, 2008).

Overall, I am astounded by the ways in which social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, delicious, flickr and many others, have increased connectivity amongst information professionals and students by providing the tools and the space for us to engage in collaborative work based on shared professional interests and goals (Mallan & Giardina, 2009).

As the Did You Know 4.0 presentation correctly observes, "It’s easier than ever to reach a large audience, but harder than ever to really connect with it.” The scope and power of social networking carries with it enormous uptapped potential and tremendous pitfalls in the ways information organisations connect with their users and each other.


Me as a Social Networker
First of all, I used to think an iPhone was for overindulgent, self-important, social networking addicts. When my mobile phone was on life support and my husband asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I requested a replacement mobile that possibly provided access to Facebook, for educational purposes, of course. Since early December, I have been having a love affair with my iPhone. I have found there are many moments throughout the day – waiting for the toast to pop up or waiting in line - when I have a few spare seconds and can tap into Facebook and email updates to keep up with friends, classmates and the world so that I am not overloaded when I turn on my laptop at night.

For a borderline technophobe such as myself, I was surprisingly one of the earlier adopters of Facebook, having joined in mid-2007. I use it avidly to post status updates and photos of my family to my close and not-so-close friends and family overseas and in Australia. I have also joined groups, become a fan and “liked” the pages of organisations such as the State Library of New South Wales. I can appreciate the importance of an active Facebook presence for libraries in connecting with their patrons. What I hadn’t tapped into, however, was the utility of Facebook as an educational tool. Normally I would post on a Charles Sturt University subject forum twice per session: once to introduce myself and once to ask a question about an assignment. In INF506’s group page, I have posted numerous links and expressed my opinion on other links and topics, engaging in what felt like a long, enjoyable, educational conversation with my classmates. My enthusiasm for using Facebook instead of CSU forums has shown me the professional importance of communicating with users, in my case library users, on their terms and with the media with which they are most comfortable.

This Good Weekend quote sums up some of my reservation about social networking sites:

“The possibilities for offending others on Twitter are endless, since the whole point of the online social network is to connect you with as many people as you can electronically stand ... If hell is other people, Twitter is eternal damnation 21-st century style: instantaneous, universal and internet-enabled. Imagine the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever said: the thing that, even years later, brings a hot flush of shame to your entire being. Then imagine you said it (in 140 characters or less) to a cast of thousands or even millions. This is the Twitter nightmare” (Hooton, 2011).

I am that student who would carefully compose a question in her head before raising her hand in class, so the idea of spitting out whatever thoughts leap into my head, without putting them through a personal filter, or even accidentally publishing my thoughts, terrifies me. My personal social media policy is: If you don’t want your mother or employer to read it or see it, don’t publish it on the internet. My fear of committing a social faux pas, combined with my personal filters, make me an unlikely candidate for a Stephanie Rice or Catherine Deveney moment, but the potential for the misinterpretation of my words still exists. I feel vulnerable when I expose my thoughts on the internet, but at the same time, I want to join the masses in Facebook and Twitter: I want to be published, I want to communicate, and I want to be heard, and in turn I want to see what others have published and communicate and hear them.

Fear is perhaps the reason I have been a reluctant blogger. I composed rough drafts of my blog posts in Word and posted them only when I was absolutely certain they were “perfect”. Doesn’t that go against the nature of blogs (and what we were advised to do for this assignment!): write it, post it, then edit and revise it later? I can tweet and post on Facebook, albeit only after reviewing my words a few times, spell-checking in my head and passing the message through my own personal filters, but I am still not comfortable publishing a blog post on the fly with my name on it. My overly cautious nature, which I see as a fault, will hopefully serve me well and keep me within my organisation's social media policy framework if and when I contribute to my library’s social media presence as a professional librarian.

This subject has converted me into an intrepid armchair traveller. Well, a desk chair traveller armed with a laptop. As I mentioned in my earlier post on Second Life, I never, and I mean never, would have entered a virtual site of my own volition. To a lesser extent, the same is true of delicious and flickr. Now I want to know what else I’ve been missing out there in the social networking world. How can I use these sites personally and professionally? For example, AnnaLaura Brown (2011) writes in her blog about Powerpoint Twitter Tools which could be used for library presentations by allowing Twitter to provide interaction within Powerpoint presentations. I am also keen to check out Broadcastr and Diigo in the near future.

However, right about now, at the end of my formal social networking studies in INF506, I am experiencing a serious case of information overload! How do I decide what’s useful, what’s not and what to devote my valuable time to without ruling out tomorrow’s most popular and most useful social networking tools? How do I reconcile my deepening interest in social media with my limited time, emotional space and brain capacity? The answer for me for now is to continue to explore and keep abreast of how libraries and information professionals around the world are utilising new social media as professional tools. And most importantly, I need to switch off my laptop and iPhone when I’m approaching burnout and take a well-deserved holiday away from social media. If only my two young kids also came with on-off switches as well ...

References
Brown, A. (2011, January 29). Twitter and Powerpoint combine for powerful library
literacy sessions, [blog]. Retrieved from http://socialnetworkinglibrarian.com/2011/01/29/twitter-and-powerpoint-combine-for-powerful-library-literacy-sessions/

Frank, I. (2008). Librarians in virtual worlds: Why get a second life? First Monday, 13(8). Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/2222/2010

Hooton, A. (2011, January 22). “A little birdie told me ...” The Sydney Morning Herald.
Good Weekend, p. 11-15.

Lauby, S. (2009, April 27). Should your company have a social media policy? Mashable, [blog] http://mashable.com/2009/04/27/social-media-policy/

McLeod, S., Fisch, K., & Bestler, L. (2009). Did You Know 4.0. Viewed at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8

Mallan, K. & Giardina, N. (2009, June 1). Wikidentities: Young people collaborating on virtual identities in social network sites, First Monday, 14(6). Retrieved from
http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/2445/2213