Evaluation Report
The
learning objectives of this subject have been met throughout the OLJ by
evaluation, reflection and the discovery of social media technologies. In particular, the 3 OLJ activities will be
highlighted to document my experience through my information discovery of
social media networks, tools and policies.
During my study of INF206, I have developed a good understanding of a
variety of social networking (SN) technologies and the features of various
tools. Of particular interest to me is how
they can meet the users’ information needs as well as organisational
goals.
PLN
As I have described in my personal learning post, Utech (2008) proposes the 5 stages of
adopting personal learning networks as immersion,
evaluation, know it all, perspective and balance. I believe that I have
passed through the immersion stage mainly because as part of the INF206 subject
the goal has been to engage ourselves with social networking technology. Furthermore, in my
previous CSU subjects I have created blogs which is according to social
technographic terminology, I have become a creator,
although true to nature I am mostly just a spectator
& collector which involves me subscribing and reading a variety of
blogs and other social media’s. I have become a conversationalist with great gusto due to this subject and my other
CSU subject (Bernoff, 2010). For this
subject INF206, Facebook has been conducive to knowledge sharing, the
highlight has been joining my other CSU subject Facebook page and other Survivors
of CSU Facebook, the result is an enormous support network.
As a result of this, I believe I have reached evaluation and skipped straight through
to perspective. I predominately want to learn
about social media use in library organisations. Some I have willingly adopted,
LinkedIn I believe will help me in my professional world and Yammer as part of
my work network. From an Information professional perspective, I am
an active subscriber of blogs such as Stephens Lighthouse, Hey Jude and now
recently David King. I am a fan on ALIA new grads Facebook page and of
course my local Library page. I am a lurker on Yammer and Twitter, with the
latter I have started to follow a few professional people recently I have met
in our industry. I chose Pinterest rather than Delicious to play with for
this assignment, which I have found great for personal use as well as my other
CSU subject to find genre books for my assignment. Although,
I enjoy being a member of an online community, I realise I am going have to
start participating by writing responses, something in which I lack confidence
right now.
4 C’S
In my
blog post about Arizona State University (ASU) I reviewed whether the
University has been able to reach the 4C’s of Web 2.0. The 4 C’s of Social Media
have been described as the following collaboration, conversation, community and
content creation (Hay & Wallis, 2013). ASU have embraced Web 2.0 technologies in their
goal to provide a relevant and timely service.
In an attempt to foster engagement with students and opening the
conversation channel’s, The Library Channel page has a ‘Get Help’, tab which
provides various options, such as ask a librarian and a suggestion box. Although this does invite conversation, as a
way to build on this Farkas (2007) suggests that using the suggestions box and
publishing in a blog as a way to facilitate conversations. Collaboration is
about building participation with the user. Casey & Savastinuk (2006)
suggest collaboration requires the librarian to facilitate customer input
regarding services and then implement changes. There is little evidence
in this site of collaboration between the University and students except the
invitation of feedback. It would appear that the content creation
is limited to the staff of ASU through the video posts. It is important
to point out that Library minutes are informative and engaging a great way of
creating a sense of community among students and staff through social media.
Using these clips is an excellent way to provide information to students,
because contemporary research indicates that people engage more with video
posts (King, 2013). Although ASU has a positive Web 2.0 presence in their
provision of support and services, I don’t believe they have successfully
achieved the 4 C’s of Web 2.0.
SHIFTING TRENDS
In my blog posting Shifting Trends I identified trends which are
changing the way people behave as digital citizens. It makes sense from a strategic
organisational point of view to advertise where the clients are. The
statistics provided in this video clip indicates a decline in traditional means
of media and advertising. Interestingly, this is because people are
connecting and sharing and digesting this information through hand held
devices, phone apps, e-book readers and social media, consequently readership
of traditional formats has decreased. As Qualman (2013, ix) says "we
don't find the news the news finds us".
Social media technologies have
created the opportunity to advertise on a global scale, reaching out to
potential audiences never before imagined. Research indicates that mobile
social networking is on the increase, providing access and delivery channels
with over 16.2 million people have mobile phones with internet connection
(Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2012). Feather (2006) makes the
important point that, “The idea that information comes from a specific place or
through a particular person is in its dying days (p.5). The video
makes the interesting prediction that by 2020 mobile phones will be the world’s
primary connection tool. To illustrate how academic institutions are
meeting that user behaviour change. Bond University has introduced a
phone app which provides seamless access to ilearn (student information hub),
iTunes (tutorials), Library (Yaye!), News/Events and basic what’s happening
information.
Digital newspapers, magazines, books, music, television and video’s can
be accessed through the internet. In libraries, the digital and
online access is provided through ebooks, databases, catalogues, Libguides,
podcasts, blogs have become so expected that it is a core service provision.
In this rapidly changing digital
environment, it is important to stay relevant by gauging what is the latest
technology being used. According to this video clip, 250 million visitors to 3
large social networking platforms every month- these did not exist 6 years
prior to that. To illustrate, the 2010 Pew study revealed that blogs
are being used 50% less by young users since 2006 (Agosta & Abbas, 2011).
Implementation of Web 2.0 technologies needs to be undertaken with careful
analysis of client demand. This can be achieved by establishing transparent
feedback mechanisms and continuous evaluation of any services and programs
implemented.
Reflective
Statement
Completing
Inf206 has provided me with a much more comprehensive understanding of the
social media landscape and the application to information organisations. This has allowed insight into how social
media fosters the ability through technology to communicate, collaborate and
build a community effectively (Schrier, 2011).
What has changed regarding my view of the role of Web 2.0 technologies
is the realisation of the plethora of technologies that are available. Yes, I
have had my head buried in the sand. The
questioned poised at the beginning of the semester was describe what you expect
to learn from completing INF206. My
answer was in short, learn how organisations can co-exist successfully with Social
Medias (SM) and learn about best practice in academic settings.
At the
beginning of this session, I have openly admitted to anyone that would listen to
my aversion of social media. Although I have been open and keen to learn to see
how exactly Web 2.0 worked in organisations, I have found it hard to shake my
cynicism about organisations invading the world of social spaces.
With
regards to my personal learning network, I see the development of a PLN as
essential for my working portfolio, I will definitely be building upon my
knowledge in my blog and using it as way to collect relevant resources in my
journey as an information professional. Highly relevant to my current workplace has been learning about effective and ethical use of social media technologies in organisations. Of which the importance of policies and guidelines in place to safeguard both employees and customers. Policies can also reinforce our awareness of issues such as copyright and crediting sources, which are and always have been important issues for Librarians. With information so easily shared knowledge of rights and responsibilities, both personally and in terms of our organisations becomes essential.
On a personal note, social networking sites provides me with the ability to
connect with friends, share common interests as well as a place where I can
promote myself professionally and academically.
In the course of this subject I have signed up for and threw myself back
into a plethora of technologies. From
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter (found some interesting characters to follow
there), Delicious, Pinterest, reignited Flickr, but love Instagram more and
found some new blogs to subscribe to as well as working on my own. It has become clear, through this semester
that immersing myself in social technologies was the best way to go to discover
what works best for me both professionally and personally.
In conclusion, participating in this subject has encouraged me to
reflect and develop my own view of social media technologies, personally, I feel that as a student of
Library science learning about all the aspects of SM has been an amazing
journey. Something that has particular
resonated with me was the Ted talks and the democratisation of Web 2.0. As an informational professional, I realise
the importance of remaining abreast of emerging technologies and seeing what
role they can play in the information provision landscape. As Stephens (2007,p.1) succinctly states,
“Learn to learn, adapt to change and scan the horizon”. I believe once I have finished this degree I
will have more time to fully explore these technologies from an implementation
point of view and making sure we fulfil student needs. Moreover, one that takes into account
teaching of information skills, social interaction, community & facilitating
and maybe when I graduate I can achieve this.
References
Agosto, D., & Abbas,
J. (2011). What do public librarians really do with social networking? Profiles
of five public libraries. In D. Agosto & J. Abbas (Eds.), Teens, Libraries, and Social
Networking : What Librarians Need to Know. Retrieved from Ebook Library.
Australian Bureau of Statistics.(2011).Household Use of
Information Technology (No8146.0). Canberra: Author.
Bernoff, J. (2010). Social Technographics: Conversationalist get onto
the ladder. Retrieved 15 August 2013, http://forrester.typepad.com/groundswell/2010/01/conversationalists-get-onto-the-ladder.html.
Casey,
M. & Savastinuk, L. (2006). Library 2.0: Service for the next-generation
library, Library Journal. Retrieved from, http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6365200.html
Farkas, M.(2007). Building academic library 2.0.[video file]. Retrieved from, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_uOKFhoznI
Feather, J. (2006). The
context of change: information professionals and the information professions in
an information society. Health
Information & Libraries Journal, 23,
3-9.
Hay, L. & Wallis,J.(2013). Social
networking for Information Professionals [INF206, Module 3]. Retrieved August
01, 2013, from Charles Sturt University Website: http://interact.csu.edu.au/portal/site/INF206_201360_W_D/page/e55201b2-9a17-4c37-00e6-90bc87200117
King,D.(2013). Five tips to reshape
your social media plan. Retrieved 01 August 2013, from http://www.davidleeking.com/2013/01/08/five-tips-to-reshape-your-social-media-plan-in-2013/#.UjZxz381cTA
Qualman, E.(2013). Socialnomics now: social media
changes the way we live and do business (2nd
ed). New Jersey:John Wiley and sons.
Schrier,R.A.
(2011). Digital librarianship & social media: the digital library as
conversation facilitator, D-Lib Magazine, 17(7/8) July/August
2011. Retrieved from http://dlib.org/dlib/july11/schrier/07schrier.html
Stephens,
M.(2007).Tame the Web : Libraries and
Technology, Retrieved 15 September 2013,from http://tametheweb.com/2007/02/learn_adapt_scan_point.html
Utech,
J.(2008). Stages of PLN adoption. Retrieved 16 August 2013 from http://www.thethinkingstick.com/stages-of-pln-adoption/
