Part A Evaluative statement

Write an evaluative statement using three (experiences) documented in your OLJ as meeting the learning of the subject.

1) Demonstrate an understanding of the social networking technologies

To meet the above learning objective, I examined as part of the INF506 learning package Blogs, tagging, Mashups, Wikis,  photo and video hosting (Flickr & YouTube), social networking platforms (Face book and Twitter), gaming and 3D virtual worlds ( Second Life), VoIP and Web conferencing podcasting and RSS feeds & aggregators.

My examination of RSS (Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary) in OLJ Task 1 revealed a web publishing that allows users to collect timely updates of news and postings from newspapers, blogs, libraries, audio, and video and read them in one place. The RSS feeds can be read using a software called an "RSS reader", "feed reader", or "aggregator", which can be web-based, desktop-based, or mobile-device-based. RSS takes the hassles out of staying up to date, by showing subscribers the latest information that they are interested in. This makes RSS a great time saver as the user does not have to go to each site they would be interested in just to see if there was anything new.

2) Demonstrate an understanding of the concepts, theory and practice of Library 2.0 and participatory library service.

Library 2.0 is about libraries and information agencies harnessing not just Web 2.0 technologies but the underlying principles of Web 2.0: collaboration, conversation, community and content creation (Hay et al., 2012). In defining the essential knowledge, skills and attributes of an information professional in a Web 2.0 world in OLJ Task 2, the concepts, theory and practice of Library 2.0 covered on the first three modules of the course served as my guide. My definition include the following skills and attributes: user focused, the ability to provide information using Web 2.0 technologies, online searching expertise and familiarity with research on assessment and evaluation, good collaborator and a team player, interpersonal skills, ability to adapt to change, enthusiasm for career-long learning, desire to share knowledge through teaching, good communication skills in both written and oral, and appreciates the importance of marketing program. The corresponding discussion of each of these skills and attributes that I have pointed out in OLJ Task 2 covers the concepts, theory and practice of Library 2.0 and participatory library service.

3) Critically examine the features and functionality of various social networking tools to meet the information needs of users; and

4) Evaluate social networking technologies and software to support informational and collaborative needs of workgroups, communities and organisations

Referring to OLJ Task 2, one of the skills and attributes of an information professional in a Web 2.0 world that I have included is the ability to provide information using Web 2.0 technologies. A Web 2.0 information professional is a person who is aware and has fundamental understanding of the Web 2.0 and emerging technologies and has the ability to evaluate such technologies to find out if they are appropriate for the workplace (Casell & Hiremath, 2011). Social networking technologies help libraries connect with users and potential users “where they are”, hence,  Web 2.0 information professionals should possess the ability to decide on the potential of using Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Blogs, Wikis, RSS, and others. In her article ‘What does it mean to be a Science Librarian 2.0?', Harvey (2009) emphasised some important points that serve as my guide when looking for the ‘right’ social networking tool to meet the information needs of users. They are:

• Web and Library 2.0 is not about finding the next ‘new’ technology, but instead about finding the ‘right’ one;
• ensure that decisions to use new tools should only be made if they serve the purpose of helping in delivering services to users; and 
• the patrons should be the driving force behind the decision on which tools make the best sense to employ (Harvey, 2009).

(Meeting these learning objectives is also demonstrated in the case study submitted for this course).

5) Demonstrate an understanding of the social, cultural, educational, ethical, and technical management issues that exist in a socially networked world, and how information policy is developed and implemented to support such issues.

OLJ Task 3 demonstrates my understanding of this learning objective. The three articles that are required to read to answer the questions in this task, have shown the different perspectives and concerns that encompass social networking and policy. On one hand, Bryson’s ‘Managing information services: A transformational approach' helped me understand how policies are developed and implemented. Information policies are developed and implemented to support different issues as social networking and new technologies are adopted in organisations (including libraries). They are guides to the decision-making process; their development is an on-going process that evolves through continuous consultation with stakeholders (Bryson, 2007). 

On the other hand, the three OLJ articles (Mallan & Giardina (2009); Harris (2010); Raynes-Goldie (2010)) show the existence of social, cultural, educational, ethical, and technical management issues in a socially networked world. It is then vital that these issues need to be taken into account when developing a policy. In other words, information policy makers must be aware of the intricacies associated with social networking sites to ensure the policy actually fulfils its supportive function. Only when a clear information policy is in place that questions such as “what can we share and what should we retain as private to the online world?” or “can a librarian confirm a friend request from a student in his/her library club?” can be answered. 

References

Bryson, J. (2007). Chapter 10: Policy making. Managing information services: A transformational approach (pp. 125-130). Burlington, VT: Ashgate e-Book. [ebook] http://CSUAU.eblib.com/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=429668

Cassell, K. A., & Hiremath, U. (2011). Reference and information services in the 21st century: An introduction. New York, NY: Neal-Schuman Publishers.

Harris, C. (2010). Friend me?: School policy may address friending students online. School Library Journal. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6724235.html

Harvey, M. (2009). What does it mean to be a Science librarian 2.0? Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, (Summer). Retrieved from http://www.istl.org/09-summer/article2.html

Hay, L., Wallis, J., O’Connell, J. & Crease, R. (2012). Social Networking for Information professionals [INF506 Module 3). Retrieved January 21, 2013, from Charles Sturt University website: http://interact.csu.edu.au/portal/site/INF506_201290_W_D/
page/84cf677e-ec91-4f08-8080-0f7dd953df21

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

Raynes-Goldie, K. (2010). Aliases, creeping, and wall cleaning: Understanding privacy in the age of Facebook, First Monday, 15(1), (4 January 2010). Retrieved from

http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2775/2432

Part B Reflective statement

Write a reflective statement on your development as a social networker as a result of studying INF506, and the implications for your development as an information professional.

The first assignment of this course asked me to list what social networking technologies and sites I had already used.  I was able to put on the list just one – creating a Weblog from a previous course. The rest such as Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, Flickr, and others are all in theories.  Although I was quite adamant, I enrolled this course based on what I had observed as becoming a necessary requirement of an information professional - to be knowledgeable in Web 2.0 technologies. This is due to the fact that social networking technologies have a dominant presence in the Web arena (Jacobson, 2011) and the library community has adopted them as part of their outreach strategy. INF506 has provided me with a greater understanding through exploration of the concept, theory, and practice of social networking technologies.

From being a hesitant participant of social networking sites, this course has turned me into an owner of six social networking accounts (seven including the Weblog for this course) -Facebook, Flicker, Twitter, Delicious, and LinkedIn, Second Life. At first, I felt slightly uncomfortable giving out information to so many sites. However, as Steckerl (2007) stated, the basic concept of social networking involves a little trust - I scratch your back, you scratch mine. People who are very guarded about their privacy may not get great results from using these networks (Steckerl, 2007).

Facebook

Facebook has given me the chance to re-establish connections with my friends and relatives locally and overseas. I use to search their names on the Web and just be contented on whatever Google displays about them. This time, because Facebook is the mostly used social media by my connections, it is usually the first application I run every time I open my computer.

Twitter

My professional accounting organisation has configured their Twitter account as news feed instead of a conversational channel. Instead of browsing from the organisational website for the latest updates, timely information is now delivered directly to me by just following my organisation.

LinkedIn

My LinkedIn profile is my online resume and highlights my skills, experience and recommendations. Every time I visit my LinkedIn account, my first attention goes to the posted jobs that I may interested in and updates from my organisational connections. LinkedIn is a great way to connect with professional peers.

Delicious

Following the accounts of our INF506 coordinator and chartered accountants Australia provides me links to different topics in both worlds of information studies and accounting.

Flickr

I use my Flickr account mostly for sharing and embedding some personal photos.  

Second Life (SL)

With a proper hardware, it should have been a good opportunity for me to explore this social media with several events and learning sessions available in the course.Unfortunately, SL’s graphical requirements (which my computer cannot properly handle) had made me unable to explore much about it after creating my account. I intend to explore more of this social media in the future.

As a social networker, I am aware of what can I share and what I should retain as private to the online world. The bottom line is, if you believe that the personal information you want to share will not compromise you in the future, share it, otherwise, keep it to yourself. Once that information goes into circulation, there is no way of retrieving it back.

Through INF506, I was also able to take a close look at how social networking is applied to organisations. Although it took some time, it appears that the idea of organisations as parts of social networks is one that the public is now comfortable with (Griffey, 2010). The case study requirement of the course has revealed how professional accounting organisations use Facebook page to support and build relationships with their members, how Twitter is used by accountants to source their clients and customised by their professional organisations as news feed rather than as a conversational channel to adapt to its very busy members, how LinkedIn is used for deeper discussions on industry policy and other issues, and how YouTube gives members the option to replay seminars and lectures at their own time and place. In other words, social media can be customised by organisations according to their patrons' needs.

The same case study has also given me the chance to set up and experiment organisational pages (accounts) using some of the above mentioned social media. I am now more confident of being able to link them to a webpage that I built in a previous course. Way back then, I did not have any exposure at all to any social networking technologies except Weblog. I can say that INF506 has allowed me to continue this unfinished work.

I intend to specialise in Information Architecture as an information professional in the future. My experience as a social networker in this course has given me a wider outlook of not only the personal application of social media but its adoption in the library community and in other organisations. Steckler (2007) emphasises that “effective utilisation of your personal network is no longer a competitive advantage, it is a survival tool”. Becoming a social networker has given me the opportunity to get a closer look at social media as a survival tool.

References

Griffey, J. (2010). Social Networking and the Library. Library Technology Reports, 46(8), 34-37.

Jacobson, T. B. (2011). Facebook as a library tool: Perceived vs actual use. College & Research Libraries, 72(1), 79-90.

Steckerl, S. (2007). Survival guide: Online social networking. FUMSI, (September).

Retrieved from  http://web.fumsi.com/go/article/use/2346

OLJ Task 3 (Module 5: Social networking and information policy)

Based on your reading of three (3) of the above readings on issues related to online identity, privacy and/or trust. Think about online identity in relation to both individuals and organisations:

What is important in terms of how we represent and manage those identities online?

For individuals, it is important that we carefully present, control, and manage our online identity. In social networking, like MySpace or Facebook, the areas that sets the online identity are: content and design, the profile image, the Friends list, and the comments section. Photographs, favourite music and video, friends, “stuff about me” are visual and autobiographical descriptions of the individual in an instance (Mallan & Giardina, 2009). Boyd (cited in Mallan & Giardina, 2009) notes “MySpace friends are not just people that one knows, but public displays of connections”. It gives the visitor an idea who the person is through the list of his or her friends. To be able to change regularly, decide if the public or only few friends can view it, or even completely disband it gives the owner control over his or her profile.

Similarly, what is important for organisations is that public’s perception matches the way how they want to portray themselves in social media with security and content control in mind. An organisation’s identity is usually represented by its goals, missions, policies, size, and other elements. These elements (represented textually or visually or both) need to be taken into consideration when one tries to create and manage an organisational profile. Organisations create their social media profile as an official page; then the public can become a fan of the organisation instead of the usual two way friend relationship (Harris, 2010). With this setup, there is a separate identity of the organisation from the person managing the organisation’s profile. This is important because fans are in effect communicating with the organisation, not to a person. Similar to individuals, control (through the Admin panel) of the presentation of its identity is an important factor for an organisation.

What can we share and what should we retain as private to the online world?

Individuals have different perception of what is classified as public and private information. Information considered public by a teen-ager could be classified as private by her forty year old mum. Often, the answer to this different perception is related to generational or age differences, since sites like Facebook and Myspace are most popular with youth (Raynes-Goldie, 2010). The bottom line is, if you believe that the personal information you want to share will not compromise you in the future, share it, otherwise, keep it to yourself. Once that information goes into circulation, there is no way of retrieving it back.

For organisations, it is obvious that confidential information needs to be retained as private.  Classification of whether information is confidential, on hold, or for publication again falls on the management and companies’ policies. Organisations have a positive reputation that they would like to maintain and they take seriously any information which appears to originate from them. It is then recommended to have management share the organisational profile password so they can oversee the content of the organisational profile (Harris, 2010).

References

Harris, C. (2010). Friend me?: School policy may address friending students online. School Library Journal. Retrieved from
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6724235.html

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

Raynes-Goldie, K. (2010). Aliases, creeping, and wall cleaning: Understanding privacy in the age of Facebook, First Monday, 15(1), (4 January 2010).Retrieved from

http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2775/2432

Setting up Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter organisation/company pages/accounts

The case study for this subject that I have been working on in the past several days has motivated me to attempt to set up organisational  Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter pages/accounts . In my previous subject of ‘Fundamentals of Web Publishing’, I thought linking the webpage of the organisation that I had created (http://csusap.csu.edu.au/~esarmi01/webinf446/) to social media would be a good idea. Way back then, I did not have any exposure at all to any of the Big 3 of social media. I believe now is the time to continue this unfinished work.

Facebook

In the past, a lot of organisations are creating Facebook profiles as if the organisation itself were a person with a firstname, lastname, date of birth, etc.; however Facebook has a link (http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php) for creating Facebook pages for organisations (Nelson & Herndon, 2012). Having an organisational Facebook page offers more features than a group (Nelson & Herndon, 2012). Organisational Facebook page (or Fan Page timeline) can be used to build relationships with members. Although it has a profile image, a cover photo, and a timeline, a Facebook page for organisations and businesses has a different administrative panel from that of an individual account.

Setting up an organisation/company Facebook page is quite a straightforward process. Also, Facebook has a link on how to setup (https://www.facebook.com/business/build) a business page. After the initial setup, most of the settings are made in the Admin Panel where an administrator can update information, manage permissions, notifications, and resources, build an audience, and other administrative configurations. Well, this is what I ended up with:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Elmar-Business-Solutions/151778954971834

LinkedIn

Similar to Facebook, LinkedIn has a different link for company page creation (http://www.linkedin.com/companies). Even though LinkedIn uses the term “company,” it’s a feature that can be used by organizations of all types, as well as organizations of any size (Hunt, 2011). A learning page (http://learn.linkedin.com/company-pages/) exists for people who want to learn company page setup. Also, Hunt (2011) suggested doing the setup process into three phases: Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced.

According to LinkedIn (2013), you can add a new company page only if you meet all of the following requirements:

1)  You're a current company employee and your position is listed in the Experience section on your profile.

2) You have a company email address (e.g. john@companyname.com) added and confirmed on your LinkedIn account.

3) Your company's email domain is unique to the company.

Note: A domain cannot be used more than once to create a company page. Because domains like gmail.com or yahoo.com or similar generic email services are not unique to one company, those domains cannot be used to create a company page. You might consider creating a group if your company doesn't have a unique email domain.

4) Your profile strength must be listed as Intermediate or All Star.

5) You must have several connections.

Unfortunately because I was not able to meet the requirements (specifically requirement 3) of adding a company page, I was not able to create my LinkedIn organisational page.

Twitter

Setting up an organisation Twitter account is similar to setting up an ordinary individual account. Twitter does not differentiate between personal and business account and it is simple to setup. Here is my organisation's Twitter account: https://twitter.com/ElmarBSolutions

Although the setup processes of Facebook and Twitter are quite straightforward, the problems I encountered with LinkedIn company page creation reflect the strict requirements of this social media. I enrolled INF506 expecting to go beyond the basics of the more popular social networking sites. Although it is not a requirement of the course, setting up the above organisational accounts has given me an outlook of social media's applications in organisations. Indeed, linking the right social media with the main organisational website is a good outreach strategy.

References

Hunt, C. S. (2011, December 6). LinkedIn “company” pages: an (undervalued) gem for organizations of all types. Social Media In Organisations. Retrieved January 14, 2013, from http://www.sminorgs.net/2011/12/linkedin-company-pages-an-undervalued-gem-for-organizations-of-all-types.html

LinkedIn. (2013, January 17). Requirements for adding company pages. Retrieved from http://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1594

Nelson, M., & Herndon, D. (2012). Facebook all-in-one for dummies. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. 

OLJ Task 2 (Module 3: Library 2.0 and participatory services)

Define what you believe to be the essential knowledge, skills and attributes of an information professional in a Web 2.0 world

Web 2.0 technologies are the second generation of the World Wide Web digital tools that allow users to participate in the creation, modification, and publishing dynamic content of all kinds.  I believe that a Web 2.0 information professional must possess the following essential knowledge, skills and attributes:

User focused

The information profession deals mostly with services, hence, a Web 2.0 information professional should love working with people and looks at things from the users’ perspective.

Ability to provide information using Web 2.0 technologies

A Web 2.0 information professional is a person who  has fundamental understanding of the Web 2.0 and emerging technologies and has the ability to evaluate such technologies to find out if they are appropriate for the workplace (Casell & Hiremath, 2011). Social networking technologies help libraries connect with users and potential users “where they are”, hence,  Web 2.0 information professionals should possess the ability to decide on the potential of using Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Blogs, Wikis, RSS, and others. Harvey (2009) emphasised the need to ensure that decisions to use new tools should only be made if they serve the purpose of helping in delivering services to users. The patrons should be the driving force behind the decision on which tools make the best sense to employ (Harvey, 2009).

Online searching expertise and familiarity with research on assessment and evaluation

Because of the vast electronics resources available (commercial and free), Web 2.0 librarians must be knowledgeable in selecting electronic resources for their users. They should be able to retrieve and discern reliable from unreliable information from the Web. Also, librarian 2.0 should have skills in research; it is a way for them to be making the best decisions, developing best practice, and establishing benchmarking (Patridge, Lee, & Munro, 2010).

Good collaborator and a team player

With so much to learn from current and emerging technologies, teamwork is essential. There are just far too many information and Web 2.0 tools for a single person to handle on their own.

Interpersonal skills

Web 2.0 information professionals deal with their colleagues, users, and other stakeholders. Interpersonal skills include not only on how we communicate with others but also our confidence and our ability to listen and understand, solve problems, make decisions and manage personal stress (SkillsYouNeed, 2012).

Ability to adapt to change

Because the information services sector is now intertwined with technology, the only sure thing to happen in the future is change. Consequently, any information professional should be adaptable to these technological changes to be able to serve their users effectively. The successful librarian in the Web 2.0 world is interested in what is happening around them (Patridge et al., 2010).

Enthusiasm for career-long learning

Technological changes have made modern libraries what they are today. Hence, information professionals must keep pace with the latest library trends through seminars, lectures, conferences, workshops, etc. A librarian 2.0 should experiment with new technologies as they come along and maintain a healthy dose of scepticism (Harvey, 2009).

Desire to share knowledge through teaching

The complexity of the library’s resources has made it necessary that users receive assistance. A Web 2.0 information professional should have the desire to teach users on how to use electronic resources, the online catalogue, and other available databases.

Good communication skills in both written and oral

With the continually expanding availability of electronic resources and digitized materials, new terms have come out that information professionals need to know, in addition to their existing language. Metadata, OPAC, and Web 2.0 terms such as blogs, Wikis, Folksonomies, Social Networking-(Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn), and Mashups are just among the new terminologies that came out that librarians need to be conversant with.

Appreciates the importance of marketing program

Paying attention to promotion and marketing of libraries is becoming more important than ever; major marketing or publicity campaigns (through social media) are important elements of the organisation to bring clients into the library to use its planned new services (Cassell & Hiremath, 2011).

References

Cassell, K. A., & Hiremath, U. (2011). Reference and information services in the 21st century: An introduction. New York, NY: Neal-Schuman Publishers.

Harvey, M. (2009). What does it mean to be a Science librarian 2.0? Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, (Summer). Retrieved from http://www.istl.org/09-summer/article2.html

Patridge, H., Lee, J., & Munro, C. (2010). Becoming “Librarian 2.0”: The skills, knowledge, and attributes required by library and information science professionals in Web 2.0 world (and beyond). Library Trends, 59(1-2), 315-335. DOI: 10.1353/lib.2010.0029.

SkillsYouNeed. (2012). What are interpersonal skills? Retrieved from http://www.skillsyouneed.co.uk/interpersonal_skills.html

Facebook and LinkedIn

In the past couple of weeks, Facebook has given me the chance to catch up with the latest updates from relatives and friends here and overseas whom I haven’t heard for a long time. One funny experience I had was when I updated my marital status on 21 December 2012. Facebook ended up putting in my timeline that I got married on that day – popularly called as Doomsday! Well, I ended up getting all the funny comments from friends and relatives and hiding that particular event in my timeline.

Still quite hesitant to let my account open for browsing to the public, I set my privacy settings to options that I feel comfortable with, that is, setting the “who can see my stuff?”, “who can look me up?”, “timeline and tagging settings” to friends rather than the public at large. I also enabled secured browsing and login notifications for my security settings. However, I noticed that Facebook regularly changes/rearranges its privacy settings without giving any prior notice to account holders. For example, a month ago, I remember having the “timeline and tagging settings” with “who can see my stuff?” and “who can look me up?” as sub-options of “privacy settings” located under the wheel icon on the top right side of the screen. Currently, the “timeline and tagging settings” is located on the left side menu as a separate item from the privacy option which can be accessed by first selecting the privacy settings from the wheel icon. This change reminds me of a recent article (http://www.news.com.au/technology/facebook-founders-sister-tripped-by-privacy-settings/story-e6frfro0-1226543997014) about Facebook founder’s sister being not happy on Facebook’s privacy setting. Obviously,  Facebook need to do some balancing act and should be very careful when it comes to deciding on the privacy settings of its users or it could end up with the same fate as Myspace.

The last two weeks also gave me the chance to add more details with my LinkedIn account (http://au.linkedin.com/pub/eliezar-sarmiento/61/110/31a), explore more of the features of the program, sent some invitations to friends, and applied to join groups.

Second Life training

This week I had the chance to explore a little bit of Second Life by participating in the first training session held last Tuesday (4-12-12). Setting up the account for Second Life was a straightforward process. With the help of Carole Gerts, we were taught how to move, communicate, and navigate our way in a virtual world. Although I was able to communicate with the rest of the group through chat (I can also hear the ongoing discussion from my speaker), the lack of microphone installed on my desktop was a little bit of a drawback. Also, my computer was not powerful enough to process the graphics requirement of the program. There was a time when my screen suddenly went black. It happened just after I clicked the snapshot button when Carole was teaching us how to get a snapshot of the venue where we were located. I finally got a display and returned to our virtual location only after several minutes of staring on a black screen. 

Second Life’s requirement of huge processing power and system resources is definitely its big drawback. The next time I will get into it, I will have to borrow my daughter’s powerful new laptop. Overall, the session was fun, a little bit stressful (with a blank screen), and informative.