Justice & Safety Library, Another Shot of Flat Screen

Justice & Safety Library, Another Shot of Flat Screen
Originally uploaded by Matt and Nicole

Here's a shot of the flat screen in the Justice & Safety Library

Learning 2.0: Facebook

I have been on Facebook for a little while now (6 months?) and have really enjoyed this social networking tool. I know I have found myself reconnecting with old friends from college and even high school, as well as connecting on a more personal level with many of my co-workers here at the university library. I think like Julie, I really like how organized Facebook is. It is very clean looking which honestly makes it really pleasing to the eye.

I particularly like a lot of the privacy and control settings available in Facebook. It's very easy to control who can see what and exactly how much they can see. It makes a fun way to share photos and updates about my life with people who are actually in my life.

I have been a bit of a lurker on MySpace. In particular, sometimes in fun to see how many people I graduated high school with have pages on there. I have been shocked by the number who do have pages that are completely open. So I can see their blogs, their personal photos, and many other things that I know I wouldn't have out there for the whole world to see. MySpace is just so......ummmm.....assualting? I can't think of a better word just yet. You open up a page and it slams you with music, photos scrolling across the screen, bold colors, etc. So not only are you try to turn off the music -- if you want to actually look at something on someone's profile -- but also you're trying to figure out where to look to find what you want to know.

In terms of librarians and Facebook and students, I think we're still at a wait and see. I know all of our student employees at the library have Facebook accounts, but I am definitely not going to request them to be my friend. A think such a request would have to come from the student. In a lot of ways, I do think it is still their space and they'll come to us when and if they're ready.

Learning 2.0: Why Join a Social Network?

For our first lesson this week in our Learning 2.0 program at my library, we watched the following video on YouTube:



I have been on Facebook for a little bit now and how been a lurker -- looking at open profiles but never setting up a profile myself -- on MySpace. It creeps me out a bit to see all those people from my high school and think they could find me ; ) Of course, almost none of them have Facebook profiles. Interesting.... I have also set up a profile with LinkedIn but have never really done anything with it. My husband, on the other hand, has quite the network on LinkedIn.

I especially appreciate the simplicity of the video. It's silly, but I never really thought about WHY I was joining Facebook or why my husband is on LinkedIn, but the above video explains it entirely and simply. We join to extend those personal networks and to make it easier to contact friends of friends. We join for personal reasons -- to find love, to find work, to share photos and information about our lives with those we trust. We join for professional reasons -- to see what others are doing, to have great contacts, to reach out to students in our libraries.

Privacy and the Web

Today our library met and had our first brown bag session to talk about our first week's experiences and thoughts about Web 2.0. It started a really interesting conversation about the Web and privacy.

There's no question that a lot about each of us is already out there. Admit it -- we all do a web search on our own name sometimes and it's a little creepy how much is out there. Newsletters and alumni magazines on the web, work web sites, etc. So, we're already out there. But then, through social networking sites, Flickr, and even this very blog, we're putting more about ourselves and those we hold dear out there. How much do we share? What do we share? Who do we share with? Are there separate identities and pages for work and personal life or do you just blend them together?

Thankfully, most of these Web 2.0 tools allow us to place privacy protections appropriate for our individual comfort levels. I'm thinking about taking a look at the personal Flickr page, in fact. There are some photos up there that are fine for the whole world to see. But I'm thinking some should actually be private. And, honestly, some probably aren't mine to share in the first place, as they are photos of friends and their children.

Anyway, just some rambling thoughts. I'm not quite sure what I think about all this just yet. But I do know we can't just ignore it. Even if you don't blog, have a Flickr page, or any of those things, stuff about you is STILL out there. And I think it's up to each of each to be proactive and make sure that information is not being used incorrectly rather than putting our heads in the sand and ignoring it.

How to keep track of all those bookmarks!

In having to use two web browsers, I finally set-up an account and started using del.icio.us to try to have all my needed bookmarks in one place. However, I found it was lacking....something. But I wasn't sure what. Sure, all my bookmarks were right there. But there was no way to organize them. Enter, Netvouz which I read about this morning on The Cool Librarian's Blog. Why Netvouz? Netvouz lets you create FOLDERS to actually organize your bookmarks! I've set up an account and am playing with it. I'll let you know how it goes but it already seems to be the solution I was looking for. I think I'm going to be a very happy librarian.

Learning 2.0: The Machine and Web 2.0

My library has just begun a Learning 2.0 program where we are going to be learning more about Web 2.0 tools like blogs, Flickr, RSS feeds, social networking, etc. To get us started, and inspired, we watched this video which was posted on You Tube:



I have watched this video several times over the past year or so. Each time I watch it I notice something I didn't before. However, I think I am always most moved by the idea that WE are creating and organizing the web. WE being anyone with computer and Internet access, whether that be at work, at home, or through a free public library. Expertise, programming skills, and money are no longer needed!

If you are my friend, do NOT let me watch TLC

If you are my friend you must today promise to never let me watch the TLC channel again. Ever. Seriously.


Well, I think it was Sunday night, the TLC channel (channel 35 in Lexington) had a series of hour after hour of everything that could go wrong with a pregnancy. First, there was the story of a young girl in Haiti who had a disease that made her bones grow in weird, tumorous way. It affected her by growing on her face. This story was followed by the tale of an amazing set of conjoined twins in Minnesota, which was actually really inspiring. Followed by the story of a young primordial dwarf in Canada which was followed by a story about several primordial dwarfs.

Not to mention TLC's other regular programming such as "Honey, We're Killing the Kids," "Big Medicine," and there's some show that steps in and tries to save marriages.

For someone considering parenthood, these are NOT good shows to watch. Seriously. So if you are my friend, do not let me watch TLC!