1. Add Me! MySpace and other Social Software Technology for Outreach and Education Marlo Young, MLS, Univ. of CA San Diego Tiffini Travis, MLS, CSU-Long Beach Kate Peterson, MLS, St. Cloud State Univ. MN LOEX of the West 6/8/06 Accompanying Handout: http://gort.ucsd.edu/myoung/LOEX06handout.pdf

2. Presentation Overview Learning Outcomes Define social software technology and social computing Understand social computing trends within higher ed. and among college students Learn how to apply social software technologies to create new learning opportunities and access to the library

3. EDUCAUSE Horizon Report 2006 Key Trend: Dynamic Knowledge Creation and Social Computing Tools and Processes -No longer in their infancy -Tools easier to use & more widespread -Practice of online communication and collaboration has increased as tools matured -Facilitate digital P2P exchanges, communities of interest & learning, collaboration

4. EDUCAUSE Horizon Report 2006 Social Computing The application of computer technology to facilitate interaction, collaboration and/or working in groups. *Students naturally co-exist in virtual and physical worlds. Social Computing is a construct for educators & researchers

5. Social Software & Computing Examples MySpace, Facebook, Friendster Other online communities, ex. Second Life, dating Blogs, video blogging IM, SMS, TXTng Wikis Discussion boards Video and photo sharing tools/services Social book-marking apps, folksonomies RSS Mash ups iTunes & iTunes U Web 2.0 = new tools, collaboration, personal expression

6. User Participation, Content Generation, Virtual Communities on the Rise

7. EDUCAUSE Horizon Report 2006 Social Computing The promise has been—and continues to be—more effective knowledge generation, knowledge sharing, collaboration, learning, and collective decision-making. The promise is beginning to be realized in the areas of distributed learning, research, and campus work settings.

8. Social Search Technology Forthcoming search engines will combine (virtual) community, personalization, and social networking models… Will allow users to direct questions to a specific universe, such as a group of friends, rather than to get automated lists of results from a generic search engine. User participation, content generation, collective- decision making, community

9. Utilizing Virtual Social Networks and Communities to Reach and Teach MySpace, Facebook, and an Undergraduate Digital Community

10. Virtual Social Networks & Online Communities Social spaces that typically integrate multimedia tools Facilitate communication, info-sharing, connectivity, community, social networking MySpace open to anyone Facebook open to college students and alumni only

11. Daily Show Trend Spotting: Social Networking click link or image to play

12. MySpace & Facebook for Outreach and Learning Profiles –Individual user profiles: can establish for a library and/or individual librarians Groups –Can be started by anyone and for any purpose: pre- existing college-specific groups and subgroups Bulletins & Event Announcements –Can be posted to friends or to an entire group in your profile’s network What Are You Trying to Achieve? How will this service be integrated & promoted? ○Different ways to utilize and adopt these tools ○ General Library Portal vs. Individual Librarian Profiles

13. Links can be imbedded in MySpace Profiles directly to your services Calendars can be added to your profile Individualized URL ideal for Marketing MySpace Profile as a Library Portal

14. Individual Librarian Profile

15. Student lost a library book and can’t finish his paper! College Group Posted Topic Social Sharing/Learning Teachable Moment

16. Facebook Created in 2004 by a student at Harvard Cross between a blog and a yearbook 12.4 million users: 2/3 of U.S. college students have an account Facebook claims that almost every U.S. college/university has a presence in the site Experimenting with business networking space for employers & employees

17. Individual Librarian Profile Facebook does not have portal capabilities as in MySpace; However great for targeted communications, promotions, networking

18. Student Support Service Using Invite Feature Student Using Facebook Flyer Feature

19. Virtual Learning Community for Undergrads UCSD’s Sixth College Contemporary liberal arts curriculum infused with digital literacies “Digital Learning Ecology” community website “Study Break” discussion forum and news topic to virtually promote the libraries, personal contact, and IL within the site

20. Study Break News Item to Promote Library Events

21. Study Break Forum Index 10 month pilot project averaged 1,000 views/month

22. Google Print & Copyright Issues Student Commentary

23. Library Classification vs. Folksonomies Discussion

24. Student Comments on Coursework Applicability

25. What Makes Virtual Networks & Communities of Value for Libraries? Personalizing & promoting libraries, librarians Facilitate & extend opportunities to communicate, collaborate, and learn in virtual spaces that students utilize for play and school Interactions and communication allow many users to read questions, answers, as well as contribute and offer their own advice

26. Blogs and Wikis Outreach, Learning, & Connections

27. Blogs for Educational Purposes Colleges, Universities, & Libraries are hosting blogging services Limitless applications –From individual journaling online to entire class blogs to learning community –Improve literacy and technology skills –Improve critical thinking skills –Can also be applied to library outreach & comm.

28. Stand-Alone Application to Supplement Instruction

29. Blog to “Announcements” in Course Management Systems example of ‘mash up’ computing application

30. Wikis Type of website that allows users to add, edit, remove content very easily & quickly Referred to as ultimate collaborative tool Many different settings for software, from totally open to more restrictive Free software hosted on third party server vs. purchased software hosted on campus server

31. Wikis within Libraries Number of uses: -Student group project possibilities –FAQ page—updated by librarians and students –Book, database, (etc.) reviews by students, faculty, librarians...Amazon-like –Events communication, book discussions, etc. –Dynamic internal documents content management system …limitless applications

32. Collaborative page about teaching with wikis

33. Wiki to create FAQs for college blog service

34. Instant Messaging Services 85% of 15-25 yr olds have at least 1 IM account Most IM clients have voice, video, co-browsing Trillian lets you send and receive messages to all major IM platforms MEEBO, a web-based client, works from any computer Individual Librarian vs. Library Service

35. Text Messaging Services A.K.A. SMS-Short Messaging Service for cell phones Can TXT w/friends, receive alerts Can search the web and have an answer sent to cell phone ex. business, residential listings, directions, facts, etc.! Altarama’s SMS service made for libraries

36. Student Survey Results CSU Long Beach –CA 29 undergrads polled St. Cloud Univ. –MN 30 undergrads polled 92% use MySpace 24% use Facebook 24% use other sites 12% use MySpace 85% use Facebook 3% use other sites 38% have blogs 76% read blogs 2% have blogs 23% read blogs 20 % have webpage21% have webpage 100% instant message68% instant message

37. Issues to consider… Match objectives to technologies Student preferences, access Workflow, staffing & maintenance Cost Spamming/security Assessment (formative / summative)

38. Conclusion Social Computing Tools provide librarians with a lot of opportunity Extend the library’s reach, communication Create new learning opps. for students Personalize the library Foster community, dynamic P2P info-sharing Tools can be integrated into IL, outreach, public services, & marketing programs